Fulani herdsman invade farmland

AGAIN, some Fulani herdsmen at the weekend invaded a farmland in Oja-Odan, a border town in Yewa North Local Council of Ogun State, and killed one Agbose Sewotan, a middle age farmer who was said to have prevented their cattle from grazing in his farmland.

The Oja-Odan community had last month addressed a press conference, where it alleged that some foreign Fulani herdsmen, in collaboration with their counterparts in Nigeria, have killed 40 of their kinsmen within the last decade for daring to prevent their cattle from using their farmlands as feeding ground.

The community expressed fears that with the dry season approaching, the herdsmen might come back to attack them again. They then appealed to the federal and state governments to come to their aid. However, their fears were confirmed on Friday when Sowetan was killed by the herdsmen.

An elder brother of the deceased, Mr. Oluwole Sowetan, told journalists at Oja-Odan that at 6p.m on that fateful day, the cattle invaded his late brother’s farmland and destroyed some of his crops, and when he attempted to prevent further damage, the herdsmen killed him.

“No fewer than 40 of our kinsmen, including males and females, have been killed over the years without the law enforcement agencies bringing the culprits to book,” he disclosed.

In the light of this, a socio-cultural group in the community, Ketu Advancement Front, is calling on security agencies to come to their aid. Their spokesman, Mr. Lasisi Adewole, who spoke on behalf of the community that comprises 30 villages, said they had often come under attacks by the Fulani herdsmen operating between the borders of Nigeria and Benin Republic.

“These armed attacks, which began some years back, have led to the killing of no fewer than 40 innocent residents of our area,” he said. “Three residents of the area, Phillip Akanan from Owode-Ketu as well as Amosu Olofinjin and Akinola Tunde from Agbon-Ojodu, have been killed this year alone by the Fulani herdsmen.”

According to Adewole, the Fulani herdsmen usually encroach and destroy the farmlands, especially during the dry season. He claimed that efforts so far made to ensure that the police, State Security Service and the state government put in place adequate security measures in the area to prevent such avoidable killings had proved abortive.

Meanwhile, the Chairman Yewa North Local Council, Tajudeen Alani, has assured that with the Friday incident, the government would surely find ways and means of ending such senseless killings. He said: “The Ogun State Government is worried at the development, and I can assure you that we are going to find a lasting solution to the killings.”