Farms abandoned, as Delta CP, Zanna Ibrahim explains security measures Police not escorting us to farms as Gov Okowa claimed — Farmers
They pursue husbands, rape their wives— Madam Lydia Ochonogor,
NUMEROUS farmers at Abraka, Ossissa and environs in Ethiope East and Ndokwa East Local Government Areas, Delta State, have deserted their farms because of the fear of attacks, raping of women, and extortion by suspected armed Fulani herdsmen, lurking in their forests.
The development, which has dislocated socio-economic life in the affected communities, has triggered food shortage in the oil-rich state. Prices of agricultural products such as garri, plantain, yam, okro, melon, maize-corn, sugar-cane and vegetables have shot up beyond the reach of the average salary earner/ family. Often times, herdsmen chase men, who came with their wives away to rape their wives and uproot cassava tubers from people’s farms to feed their cattle. By Emma Amaize, Perez Brisibe & Ochuko Akuopha TENSION in Abraka: Presently, Abraka people are living with the palpable fear of being overrun anytime like Agatu in Anambra State by rampaging herdsmen, who, on April 26, carried out an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS-style beheading of a welder and native of Urhuoka-Abraka, Mr. Solomon Ejoor, in his mother’s farm. The impudence with which armed herdsmen slaughtered farmers in Abraka, Eku and Igun in Ethiope East as wel;l as and other parts of the state forced the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Zanna Ibrahim, recently, to commence ambush and counter-ambush training of police officers to battle them. A farmer in Abraka, Mr. Philip Ekure, told NDV: “We have not been able to go to the farm since the beginning of the Fulani herdsmen attacks on our people in the bush. I read in the papers that the Delta State government has mobilised policemen to Abraka to accompany us (farmers) to the farm. The world should know that this is not true as the policemen, even if they claim to be at Abraka, do not accompany us to the farm. Delta Women protest rape by herdsmen “Many people do not go to farm anymore, the few of us that still manage to farm, go to the farms ourselves because we must eat even though our level of farming has been reduced to the subsistence level,” he added. Mrs. Esther Aganbi, a gari trader at Abraka Main Market, asserted: “The attacks by herdsmen have deterred farmers from going to their farms and this has reduced the supply of gari in the market. Based on this, we all know that when supply drops as against demand, prices will go up. Aside from gari, other products like palm oil are also affected and I believe that if nothing is done to checkmate the activities of these herdsmen, famine would be staring us in the face.” Hunger in the land A community leader at Amatebe, Patani local government area, Mr. Meshach Selekowei, in a chat with NDV, said that herdsmen have caused untold hardship to his people, predominantly farmers and fisherpersons. “The effect is that it has led to low level of income, low productivity in agricultural produce, owing to the fact that the people are scared to go to their farms it has further caused serious hunger in the land as the people can no longer go to their farms,” he said. Gangland in Ossissa At Ossissa, one of the flashpoints in the state, a farmer, Mrs. Bridget Oyem, said: “These herdsmen have been committing a lot of atrocities on our farmlands since 2008 when we started seeing them around. But in the last one year, it has been hell here. They go into the farms with all forms of sophisticated weapons. If you are unlucky to meet them in the farm, you are either raped or brutally attacked with their weapons; they even go to the extent of killing our people in their own farmlands. “As a community, our means of livelihood is farming. We cultivate cassava, yams, pepper, corn, plantain and other crops. Most people focus on cassava, which we use to produce gari, starch and fufu. We eat some of them and take the others to the market and neighbouring communities to sell. This has been our major source of income. Going to farm now risky “But for over one year now, we find it difficult to go to the bush for fear of herdsmen. We are mostly at home these days because if you decide to go to farm, you will be doing so at your own risk. l do not have a single cassava farm, this year, and it is the same with many people here. So there is hunger in the land. We cannot feed well and we can no longer cater for the education of our children. “What some of us do these days is to borrow money from meeting and take to buy cassava in Nsukwa and Ogwashi-Ukwu, which we process for sales, in fact, life has become unbearable.” Unbridled Invasion Another indigene, Madam Lydia Ochonogor, revealed: “Herdsmen have destroyed our farmlands and are also making it hard for our people to go to their farms. If a woman goes to the farm with her husband, they will chase the man away or even kill him and rape the wife. “They take their cattle into our farms and uproot the cassava that are mature and give to the cows to eat, including the leaves. The cassava that is not yet mature, they eat their leaves; and they say cassava has more nutritional value to the cows than grass. “Farming activities have reduced and everyone has grown lean as nobody goes to farm. Many families can no longer feed well because we are no longer getting anything from our farms,” she bemoaned, saying: “We have been pleading government to help us to drive these people from our land.” Community leaders count losses Also speaking in the same vein, Ossissa leaders, Chief Edward Osanekwu and Deacon Sunday Uwefili, confirmed that there was sharp drop in food production in the community, appealing to the state government to do all within its means to checkmate herdsmen offensive in the area. The Onetu-Uku of Umueleke-Ossissa, High Chief Michael Uyabeme, lamented that there was food scarcity in the agrarian community as a result of destruction of their farmlands by herdsmen. He said: “Production of cash crops and food crops have been reduced drastically because of the nefarious activities of these herdsmen. Our people are afraid to go to their farms and as a result, food production has dropped drastically. No money to train our children “Herdsmen take their cattle to our farms and destroy our crops after attacking our people. Economic life is dropped considerably. People no longer enjoy what they used to enjoy. There is no money and we are finding it extremely difficult to train our children in school because our people no longer go farm and our products have been destroyed by herdsmen.” Uyabeme told NDV: “We have been managing and staggering to survive over the last one year. People are avoiding going to farm and some of the women have resorted to small petty trade within the community to eke out a living. “We have been reporting our predicament to government and even went to court. The Customary Court asked them (herdsmen) to leave but they remained adamant. We went to the Magistrate Court, it was the same thing. They refused to leave and they have been harassing our people in the bush.” We‘ve not seen Okowa security On the promise of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to help provide security to the people during his visit to the community, the Onetu-Uku said: “We are yet to receive security promised by the governor and we are still waiting for government to bring the security outfit. “We are tired of writing letters and sending people to government; in fact, we have taken numerous steps to solve this problem, so we are now depending on prayers because we are not strong enough to fight the herdsmen, we have no weapons and we are not trained to fight. We are a peace loving community.” Idea not to escort each farmer to farm— CP Ibrahim However, Commissioner of Police, Delta State, Mr. Zanna Ibrahim, who spoke to NDV on the police security for farmers, clarified: “The idea is not really to escort each and every farmer to their farms. We have identified three major routes where herdsmen penetrate and carry out mayhem. “Once the flash points are fully covered, it becomes rather impossible for the herdsmen to attack farmers. The last point of canopy and the eight fighting points are almost ready. Our measures definitely are expected to bring sanity in the areas.” Govt’s engagement strategy Speaking, Special Adviser, Special Duties to the Governor, Joshua Atigogo, said: “The attacks by herdsmen pose grave danger to our farmers and imparts negatively on agricultural production as it has also affected the supply of farm produce in the affected communities, including Abraka.” Atigogo, a resident of Abraka disclosed: “So far, the approach of the state government has been to engage all stakeholders involved because to us as a government, the unity of Nigeria is of the highest priority and we support engagements of citizens rather than confrontation.” His words: “In pursuit of this pan- Nigerian approach, our people should be rest assured that all acts of criminality shall be accounted for and all perpetrators shall be brought to justice, thus the state government is committed to promoting peace and ensuring the livelihoods of all Nigerian resident in Delta state as long as they operate within the ambit of the law.”