Aftermath herdsmen attack, affected Ondo residents count losses

Tension is on the rise in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State after herdsmen recently killed about six persons in Molege, Ute, Arimogija communities, over the refusal of farmers in the area to allow the herdsmen to graze on their farms. HAKEEM GBADAMOSI writes on the experiences of the residents and farmers in these communities.

For the umpteenth time, armed herdsmen again invaded the agrarian community in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State, killing, injuring farmers, traders and destroying farmlands.The attack on the communities in the area, which include Arimogija, Ijagba, Molege, Ute and other communities in the Ose axis of the northern region of the state, was one of the bloodiest in the area in recent times.

Narrating the ordeal, a community leader, Olowolafe Folorunsho, stated that the February 2, 2023 attack was triggered by an effort by farmers to repel the continued wanton destruction of their farmlands by the herdsmen. However, many of the farmers were injured during the attack.

Owolafe stressed that, “the herders have continued to invade our farmlands at night, harvesting our crops to feed their cows. And on many occasions, they come during the day, force us to uproot the cassava by ourselves at gunpoint, and command us to cut them into pieces to feed their cows.

“In order not to take laws into our hands, we reported this to the appropriate authorities who took prompt action to chase them out of the farming areas only for the herdsmen to come back armed, and attacked us with guns, axes, and cutlasses and killed our people at night.”

He explained that the herdsmen who understand the topography of the area better than the residents usually escape through the forest reserves to neighboring Edo State after perpetrating their wicked acts.

“Their ambition is to drive us away from our land and take over our communities. I can confirm to you that they have taken over a whole Elerinla community with no single indigene of the village there. They have destroyed everything we worked for, and anything you can think of, harvesting our cassava for their cows, destroying plantain plantation, setting cocoa farms on fire. As if that’s not enough, they kill, maim and rape our women,” he said.

A farmer, Micheal Matti, said he lost millions of naira to the destruction of his cassava and yam farms, saying the herdsmen are becoming more daring by the day. According to him, “I don’t know how to describe what is happening here. We are at the mercy of the herdsmen. What I’ve suffered in the last two seasons in the hands of the herdsmen is unexplainable.

“They have turned me into a beggar by destroying my farms. I have been farming here for the past 20 years but never witnessed something like this. They have even resorted to coming to our compound to drag us to farms to uproot cassava and yams for their cows. There is nothing we can do because they are always armed and when we attempt to resist them, they kill and injure our people. My children and wife have fled the village. I don’t know their whereabouts as I speak.”

Lamenting the killing of his 27-year-old son, Mr. Ezekiel Ogwu, said the young man, Collins Ogwu, who was returning home from a journey, ran into the herdsmen who shot him. He said they left the father of a three -month-old baby dead in his pool of blood. “He did not know the herdsmen were on the road and ran into them. They shot him, and used cutlass to cut him. He died before help could reach him. They killed a promising young man, leaving his wife and his three-month-old child to suffer. Who will cater for them now? We want the government and security agencies to help us before they turn us to slaves in our land,” he said.

The traditional ruler of Imoru, the Onimoru of Imoru, Oba Rotimi Obamuwagun, who also spoke with Nigerian Tribune on the invasion of the herdsmen in the communities lamented the atrocities and criminal activities of the herders in the area, saying several lives have been lost.

He disclosed that over four hectares of cassava farm land belonging to one of his subjects had been destroyed by the herdsmen, saying the farm was financed with a bank loan from a commercial bank.

According to the traditional ruler, the herdsmen moved around with sophisticated weapons, adding that they were becoming more daring by visiting homes and dragging the farmers to the farm, ordering them to uproot cassava for their cows. He said that apart from their cows being fed with cassava, the armed herdsmen have also started harvesting other farm produce to feed themselves.

The chairman of the local government area, Dennis Adekunle, who went round the communities to assess the wanton destruction expressed worry and concern over the incessant attack on farmers and traders in the area.

Assuring the residents of the security of their lives and property, Adekunle informed the people that the Council will be meeting with relevant authorities and stakeholders in the area to redesign the security architecture of all the flashpoints in the area to nip the security challenges in the bud.

He, however, called on the community leaders, youth organisations and other stakeholders to be more security conscious. He charged them to improve on intelligence gathering that can lead to the arrest of the herdsmen and said the government alone cannot track down criminals. He appealed to them to always raise alarm over any security challenges in their community without taking laws into their own hands.

The Amotekun Commander in the state, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, who also visited the area, said normalcy has returned to the communities, after security agencies responded to save the situation.

Adeleye said, “I learnt it started with a young man that went to buy petrol from Ute at Arimogija. We were informed that he had petrol in his car and he ran into the cows that were used as bait and in the process, injured some of the cows.

“In the process of finding out what happened, the owners of the cows opened fire on the car conveying petrol and the vehicle went up in flames. The man inside the car was burnt to death. Also, while that was going on, a motorcyclist who was coming from behind was equally attacked.

“I want to specially thank the army and the police for joining hands together with the Amotekun Corps to drive the herdsmen from the area.

“We have enough men on ground in Ijagba and Arimogija to guarantee the safety of the people in the community and its environs. This is because we went right into the forest and we were able to chase them far away from the state.”

Speaking on the development, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Funmi Odunlami, said men of the command have been deployed to the area, assuring that the criminals would soon be arrested.

However, while proffering solutions to the incessant attack and killings, the Onimoru of Imoru, Oba Obamuwagun, called on the state government to draft more Amotekun officials to the area to check the activities of the armed herdsmen in the communities.

The community leader, Olowolafe, who described the continuous invasion of the herdsmen to the agrarian community as an invitation to hunger and food insecurity, said most farmers have abandoned their farms for fear of being killed.

He said, “In order to ensure food security, these herdsmen must be shown the way out of this community. This can be achieved through the presence of security agencies in the area.

“There should be a security presence from Sobe town in Edo State to Ifon town. This will go a long way in keeping the herdsmen from this area. We demand security presence with road blocks. This will curb the incessant harassment and unnecessary clashes and killing of our people.”