What was destroyed in a twinkle of an eye is worth millions of naira —Farmers lament herdsmen invasion of Ondo community

For residents of Arodoye community in Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State, farming represents their entire existence through which they assert their livelihood. But that has become threatened following the invasion of their peace by marauding herdsmen who brought death and destruction to their farms and community. HAKEEM GBADAMOSI who visited the community reports the residents’ frustration and fear.

Every farmer looks forward to harvest considering the effort, both physical and financial, which went into the farming process. For farmers in Arodoye, they ended 2017 on a good note having taken the festive period in December to count their blessings and take a break from their farming activities. But to their chagrin, when they resumed to their farms after the break in January, their over 200 hectares farmland had been reduced to nothing by herdsmen and their cattle that consumed their crops and destroyed their farms.

Apart from the destruction to the farmlands, a middle aged female farmer, Patience Salami, allegedly met her death at the hands of the herdsmen who dismembered her. Some of the residents argued that some parts of Salami’s body were missing with her remains deposited in the morgue and eventually buried.

The farmers who resumed work within the first week of January were devastated to behold the level of destruction on their farms; they raised the alarm and reported the case to their community heads and state police command.

The farmers however petitioned the state government, security agencies, State Assembly and Ministry of Agriculture to intimate them on the development in their farms. They lamented the incessant herdsmen invasion of their farms saying millions of naira had been lost to the destruction. According to the farmers, the herdsmen brought the havoc on their farmlands during the Christmas and New Year break when most of the farmers had travelled to celebrate with their families. They listed some of the farm produces destroyed by the herdsmen to include cassava, cocoa, cocoyam, yam, vegetables while some cocoa farmlands were set on fire.

Speaking on behalf of the farmers, a serving Judge of the Customary Court of Appeal, Justice Michael Owoyemi, whose farm was also affected, traced the genesis of the invasion to December 2016 when the herdsmen harvested most of the farm produce during the Christmas /New Year break. He noted that the 2016 destruction was minimal but said the destruction of their farm by the herdsmen during the last festival period was unprecedented.

According to him, “the herdsmen also returned last December destroying over 5,000 heaps of cassava in my farm. They took the advantage of the break and brought their cattle and uprooted all the cassava in my farm to feed their cows.

“We have reported the herdsmen to the security agents in the past and also to the traditional ruler of Akure, Deji of Akure land, Oba Aladelusi Aladetoyinbo who promised to wade into the matter.

“The herdsmen are determined to send the farmers out of business in the South West and unless steps are taken by the concerned authorities, it will degenerate to ethnic clashes in the South West. What they have destroyed in a twinkle of an eye is worth millions of naira.”

Speaking on the implication of the development, Justice Owoyemi said with the incessant invasion of herdsmen on farms in the area “people will be sent out of their farms and this will affect food production in the South West.

“Some people depend on farming while some people are destroying these farmers’ investment. This will not encourage farming. Most of these people here depend on the farm produce to cater to their families and send their children to school.”

One of the farmers, 68-year-old Gabriel Ikoja, who started farming in the area in 1985 said he had never experienced such level of destruction since he started his farming business in the community. “The December 2016 destruction was a child’s play compared to the havoc they brought on our farms last December. After destroying my farm they set it on fire.

“This is the source of our livelihood. I used the proceeds from this farm to raise my children. I have two young undergraduates in the university and three others in secondary schools. We all depend on this farm. We just want to appeal to the state and Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the herdsmen menace before it escalates into an ethnic war,” he said.

Also speaking, Michael Chinedu regretted that government was not paying sufficient attention to the issue of the herdsmen and their tyrannical tendencies all over the country and noted that the situation was getting dreadful by the day.

He said if the state government failed to curb the destructive activities of these herdsmen, farmers in the area would be forced to defend themselves saying “we are constrained by the government and laws of the land. These herdsmen are not bigger than us; they will destroy our farms and kill farmers in their farm.

“I voluntarily resigned to embrace farming and agriculture. I gave up on the idea of crossing the desert to voluntary slavery and decided to invest in farming but these herdsmen have dashed my hope. I invested almost all my life savings on farming without getting any meaningful returns.

“We call on the state government to emulate the Ekiti State government by enacting laws to control grazing activities. There is no questioning the fact that this is becoming a monster; it is getting dangerous while the audacity is very disturbing.”

Mrs Florence Adedipe, who lost all her cassava and cocoa produce, said, in tears, “these herdsmen must be called to order. These wanton destructions, audacious incursions into other people’s territory cannot continue for too long. They just go to the farms and devastate them

“They have turned us to perpetual debtors because some of the inputs for the farms are from bank loans. The herdsmen will just get there and destroy our farmlands. The state government should rise up to help us before they destroy all that we rely on.”

The community head, the Olu of Arodoye, Chief Idowu Ajetumobi Fasuyi, said apart from the destruction of their farms, most people had fled the community while those that remained have been living in fear. “We are calling on the state government to rescue us from the hands of these herders,” he said.

The development however led to an emergency stakeholders’ meeting called at the instance of the state government to find a lasting solution to the frequent clashes and destructions of farmlands by the herdsmen.

The stakeholders who included all security agencies in the state: the police, military, Directorate of State Security Services, Fulani settlers,  herdsmen, farmers,  Ministry of Agriculture, traditional rulers and community leaders commended the security operatives in the state for their prompt action to ensure peace in the land.

At the end of the meeting called by the Senior Special Assistant to the state governor on Agriculture, Mr. Akin Olotu, it was collectively resolved that there should be a form of identification for all the cattle rearers and their cattle to identify some of the erring herdsmen.

They also agreed that a committee which would include security agents, farmers, herdsmen, members of the Fulani Myeti Allah and the Hausa community, should be put in place in all the 18 local government areas of the state to reduce the incessant attacks and destructions of farmlands and also advocate constant sensitisation in all communities across the state on the need for peaceful co-existence among Fulani herdsmen, Hausa and farmers in the state.

Disturbed by the activities of the herdsmen in the state, the state governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, disclosed the determination of the state government to end the frequent clashes between the herdsmen and farmers. He said plans were underway to resuscitate the ranch established by the Chief Obafemi Awolowo adminstration in Akunnu Akoko in Akoko North East Local Government Area of the state.

He said this would go a long way to curb the activities of the herdsmen on the farms and also ensure food security in the state. “Our state has had her share of the crisis but not on the horrendous scale whose odious effect continues to reverberate throughout the country. Our administration is taking proactive steps to ensure that this obnoxious phenomenon is nipped in the bud.

“While we encourage all those with legitimate intentions to visit our space, we intend to clear the doubt of anyone who may wish to perpetrate crime under nebulous guises. We will not tolerate any act of brigandage. We will defend the right of our people to engage in farming without let or hindrance of any sort. We will sanction with impassioned severity any act which seeks to tilt the balance of harmonious coexistence in the state towards anarchy. The full weight of the law will be brought to bear on criminal elements.

“Security forces have been fully mobilised to prevent the nefarious activities of nation wreckers in our state. We will protect our citizens with such fervor as expected of true representatives.

“We, therefore, enjoin our people to go about their normal businesses and report, promptly, any suspicious movement of undesirable elements in their communities. All of us owe our country a duty to ensure peace while not ignoring issues of justice and equity,” he said.