http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=105852:save-us-from-rampaging-herdsmen-&catid=3:metro&Itemid=558



They are appealing to the state government and security agencies to save them from the herdsmen, particularly now that the dry season is approaching.

Speaking to journalists recently, they said every dry season, foreign Fulani herdsmen from Cote d’Ivoire, Niger Republic and Cameroun join local Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria to invade their farms in search of pasture.

With the dry season at hand, their fear is that it would be “a matter of days before the marauding armed herdsmen invade their communities, destroying farmlands with the indiscriminate grazing of their cattle” unless the government and the security agents take adequate measures to prevent such.

A coalition of socio-cultural groups from the 30 communities in the area, including Ketu Advancement Front, Ketu South Peoples’ Assembly and Ketu Alliance at a briefing in Oja Odan, alleged that 21 of their kinsmen had been murdered by the armed herdsmen.

Some of the victims, they said, included a husband and wife as well as father and son.

Their spokesperson, Mr. Lasisi Adewole disclosed that some of the female victims were raped, adding: “Three of our kinsmen, including Phillip Akanan from Owode-Ketu, Amosu Olofinjin and Akinola Tunde from Agbon-Ojodu were killed this year alone by the Fulani herdsmen.

“All our efforts so far to ensure that the police, the State Security Service (SSS) and the state government put in place adequate security measures to protect us from the Fulani herdsmen had yielded no fruits.”


He alleged that the police even shot and killed one Master Tunde Akinola in January this year when the people protested at the palace of the Alademeso of Igan Alade over the murder of one Mr. Amosu Olofinjin by the herdsmen.


Supporting their claims with pictures of some of the victims, the coalition also alleged that the state government and the police had been foot-dragging over the issue.

They alerted security agencies that some herdsmen had threatened to enter Ketu community from Republic of Benin.


“It is against this backdrop that we draw the attention of the world to the failure of our government to guarantee our security as demanded of her by the constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.

“In the next couple of days, we expect the herdsmen to make good their threat.

“The result will be murder of innocent people, robbery at gun point, raping of both young and old, especially children of school age, attack on villages in the dead of the night, arson, destruction of farm produce and forced closure of schools over insecurity. If this happens, then our government will have to be blamed,” Adewole stressed “

They demanded that the 2007 Ilaro High Court judgment, which barred the Fulani herdsmen from grazing their cattle in the area and the payment of compensation to the victims of past Fulani attacks by the Ogun State Government and the Yewa North Local Council should be complied with.

They also called for an investigation of the alleged extra-judicial killing of a Junior Secondary School student of Area Community High School, Ibeku, Master Tunde Akinola by the police.

In his reaction, the Secretary to the State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa said that the problem of the clash between the Ketu people and the Fulani had been a recurrent one in the past 15 years, saying that the state government had set up a committee, comprising the Ketu people, the Fulani and government officials to tackle the problem.


Also, the Ogun State Police Command Spokesman, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi said the police could only ensure that there was no break-down of law and order rather than stopping the Fulani herdsmen from coming into the area.

hahahaha

Why are they crying like big babies. If the government cannot protect you, protect your self, shior

Fulani people are becoming a nuisance to this country

Too much of formality in our ways of life. When been formal is not the answer to a problem caused by some barbaric minded set of people, may be jungle justice will be the solution.

Still shocking how the governments of the states involved haven't taken any diplomatic step to curb this uncivilized culture of the cattle rearers. We seem to take things with levity, our accommodating culture shouldn't be to our detriment.