Protesters barricade Benin-Lagos road over herdsmen attacks

Irked by the illegal activities of herdsmen which have resulted in killings, destructions of farm produce and forceful evictions from their ancestral homes, thousands of protesters, on Wednesday, blocked the busy Lagos-Benin express road was blocked for several hours.

The protesters who are mostly from communities that have been ravaged by the murderous herdsmen staged the protest in collaboration with members of Civil Society Organisations.

The affected communities are Odiguetue, Ofintebe, Igolo, Okokuo, Abumwenre I and II, Obarenren, Uhiere, Uyimo I and II.

Several commuters on the road which connects the western and eastern parts of the country were stranded as a result of the gridlock.

The spokesman, Mr Osagie Obayuwana, lamented the action of the suspected killer herdsmen in the various communities in the state, demanding that urgent steps needed to be put in place to check them before their activities snowball into full-blown crises in the state.

Obayuwana, the erstwhile national chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP) said that the protest was to make the whole world know the experience of the people over time.

He said: “We are zeroing it on Ovia North-East communities. About 15 communities have been under siege for some years. Farmers have been prevented from going to their farms, another planting season is going away, they have been sentenced to hunger, farmers and their families and this have an implication for the larger society.

“It is one of the reasons the price of food is rising beyond the reach of even those in the middle class.

“So far, we have not seen serious efforts to address this issue. Our people have gone to various offices both the legislative arms and the legislative arms even traditional quarters and nothing seems to be coming out.

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“Right now, the matter is degenerating to such an extent that people are being driven out of their villages.

“We are concerned that what had been happening in Benue and Plateau States will be coming to the shore of Edo State now where armed herdsmen drive people from communities, change the names of the communities and start to occupy the houses, we don’t want that,” he said.

The former Public Relations Officer of Edo State Civil Society Organizations (EDOCSO), Comrade Osazee Edigin, fumed at the level of insecurity in Edo communities, noting that the situation has gone from bad to worse.

Edigin said that they decided to join in the protest in a desperate effort to make the government come to the rescue of the villagers.

“We are here to support these communities that have been ravaged and sacked by herdsmen. We have seen it as a high level of insecurity in the state, and we want the state government and law enforcement agencies to rescue them.

“We are here to amplify the voices of these locals so that the state government should intervene in this. If we don’t do it, we are going to have a scarcity of food and more victims.

“We urged the government to rise to the occasion and protect lives and property.

“The primary purpose of government is to protect lives and property, and if they fail in that area, then they are giving room for anarchy, and we don’t pray it results in a state of lawlessness.

“The government should step in. When there is no peace in the land, life will not flourish, and the economy will go down,” Edigin said.

Echoing Obayuwana, Prince Aik-Ikhuokhuo Uwaifo, from the small community of Uhiere, disclosed that in the past, herdsmen and the people in his community were living harmoniously together so much so that they were even asking them (herdsmen) to give them their cows urine to grow their fingers while they will, in turn, give them foods.

He said that the situation has gone from bad to worse as the herders now move into their farms killing, raping, maiming, destroying their crops and forcefully evicting them from their community.

Another protester, Mrs Rhoda Ogba, from the Odigi community, said cows don’t eat grass anymore, but yam, cassava and Cocoyam maintain that they are now hungry as they can no longer go to their farms because of fear of being killed.

She said the federal and the state governments should come to their rescue.

The Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Abutu Yaro, Represented by the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, Mr James Chu, pleaded for a peaceful protest, adding that the Edo State Police share in their pains, assuring that machinery has been put in place to curtail the excesses of armed herdsmen in the various communities in the state.

The new Edo Police bot said that he has taken notes of all the incidents that affected Edo South communities and other communities in Edo North.

Yaro said: “There are very critical strategies that are in place to ensure that the excesses of these men who are disturbing our villages are monitored and equally checked and stopped.”

While reiterating the determination of the police to tackle the marauders, he assured that the police take the issue very seriously.

He said: “I want to assure you that we are going to work in hands and gloves with the communities to ensure the essence of this gathering.”

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