Residents of Imo State have decried the illicit activities of Fulani herdsmen who they accused of using their herds to destroy their farm products, subjecting them to hunger, anguish and anger.
The residents also alleged that Fulani herdsmen use dangerous weapons like Pistol, Pump-Action, AK-47 Rifles and Machetes including charms to terrorize helpless, peaceful and law- abiding farmers who abandon their farms and produce and scampered for safety in neighboring villages and townships.
They lamented that over the years, across South East, there has been serious attack on farmers and their farms by Fulani cattle rearers with dubious intent to colonise and occupy their lands for the grazing of their herds which the people maintained they value more than human beings, regretting that government has not taken any fruitful or drastic step to stem the anomaly, hence the bullies have continued in their evil way of herding.
The people who spoke to News Echo in Owerri expressed bitterness that without any provocation Fulani herdsmen use their cows to damage their farms, kidnap, extort, kill and maim them without government checking them or prosecuting them in the law court, accusing the security agents of shielding and protecting violent Fulani herdsmen and thereby giving them the leverage to terrorise them in their fatherland.
In order to ensure safety and freedom of farmers in Imo State, the people had called on the Imo State Government to rise to the ugly occasion by compelling the House of Assembly to enact a law prohibiting open- grazing in all parts of the state.
They added that Fulani herdsmen contribute 50% of the woes of hunger, anguish, suffering and insecurity being experienced in South-East, South-South, South-West and the Middle Belt. They cautioned those dehumanizing humanity and using their cows to destroy other peoples means of livelihood to stop for peace, comfort and prosperity to reign absolutely.
Speaking, Mazi Njoku Livinus, a secondary school teacher, who lives at Egbu, Owerri North, said “we only hear that security agents have arrested, paraded, detained or imprisoned a none Fulani over alleged cattle rustle, but we rarely hear nor read in the newspapers, magazines or social media of any Fulani herdsman arrested, paraded or imprisoned for using his herd to destroy farmer’s products or for killing the farmer for refusing their invasion on his or her farmland”.
“This is injustice which has been justified by powers that be because of ulterior motif. Does it mean that Fulani cattle rearers are special breeds who are untouchable and above the law of the state when they destroy and kill? I’m advising Imo State Government to make a law that can prohibit them from rearing their cows in the open, on farmlands or farmsteads belonging to individuals or communities. This measure will force them to buy lands from willing persons for ranching. It is bad for one to use his business to destroy another person’s business”.
Contributing, Alilionwu Julian, a civil servant, who resides at Naze Owerri North, condemned into-to the illicit activities of Fulani herdsmen in Igbo land, frowning that “several farmers had deserted their farms to neighbouring communities and townships to secure their lives.
\This problem is tantamount to scarcity of food (food insecurity) in many communities of the region. I am using this platform to call on Government of Imo State to enact a law through the House of Assembly that shall outlaw open-grazing across the state, just as was agreed by Southern Governors Forum at a meeting last year”.
“I was a victim. Fulani herdsmen invaded my farm 6 year ago and destroyed all crops in my farm. When I confronted them, they threatened to kill me. I reported the matter to police, but no action was taken by the law enforcement agency, hence I decided not to farm again until Fulani herders who I see as violent people leave my community. Many farmers have been attacked too with degrees of injuries inflicted on them by these marauding, wandering, thoughtless shepherds”.
Also, an indigene of Obosima, Ohaji, Lolo Nnenna Ishia, a trader and a farmer, said she was “not happy that Fulani herdsmen now occupy our farmlands with assorted dangerous weapons and charms, making it difficult for subsistent farmers to access their farms freely. Although, we are not afraid of them, but they are being defended by security operatives who even blame us for chasing those wicked shepherds off from our farms.
Within Ohaji, Egbema, Oguta (Adapalm), Avu, Iforola areas, there are gory (unpleasant) stories of terror against the agrarian people. That is why we want government to come to our rescue by enacting a fair legislation that can regulate the movement of herdsmen in Imo State”.
“The atrocities are heavy, leaving us wonder whether we are into slavery in our fathers’ land. We do not want to take laws into our own hands to force them out of our land, hence we appeal for a legislation to arresting that ugly effect. We have been pushed to the walls by those herders. Ohaji who is previously known for being a rich producer of food, is now hungry and anguished given to illicit activities of Fulani herders on our farmland. This is outrageously shameful”.
With Prof. Chukwu Okoro, an academic staff of Federal University of Technology, FUTO, Owerri, positing that “Fulani herdsmen are seriously rearing their cows in FUTO, disrupting academic activities, destroying farms with school management doing practically nothing to push them away.
The FUTO management would rather arrest and imprison the host communities who seek daily food through excavation of sand in FUTO, their fathers’ land. They do the same thing in Imo State University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Umuagwo, Ohaji, Imo State University, Owerri, Alvan Ikokwu Federal College of Education, Owerri, Irete, Ogbaku, Ukuorji, Uratta, Naze, Owerri metropolis among other areas. Government should do the needful urgently to save our lands from Fulani invasion and occupation”.
They reiterated that the Imo State Government should not leave any stone unturned to ensure that activities of Fulani herdsmen are regulated to avoid adding salt to insecurity bedeviling the state by enacting a fair law, saying open-grazing is an illicit activity which is a threat to human beings, stating that it is wrong to allow Fulani herdsmen to troop massively into Imo State as their mission is basically to inflict misery on humanity in Igbo enclave.
