The best of times for Ossissa, an agrarian community in Ndokwa East Local Govern­ment Area of Delta State, are yet to come. The same applies to Umuo­sumili, a neighbouring community to Ossissa. The fear of little Fulani herdsmen has become the begin­ning of wisdom for the peace-lov­ing and quiet villages. Situated few metres away from the expressway running between Ogwashi Uku and Ughelli, the communities’ ma­jor means of livelihood is produc­tion of cassava and yam. But the in­vasion of the communities by the gun-wielding Fulani herdsmen is sending shivers down the spines of the hapless farmers. Many of them now dread going to the farm for fear of the herdsmen.

Last Wednesday, March 9, the Fulani herdsmen unleashed havoc on some residents of the settlement. Bicycles and motorcycles were burnt while one Ndudi Chiedozie and his wife escaped nearly being killed by the men along the way to their farms. But a youth, Afam Enennoh, was not so lucky as he was brutally attacked and butchered by the men. The little Fulani herdsmen attacked him with a cutlass, cutting his but­tocks, arm and ankles, leaving him reeling in the pool of his blood. His survival is currently hanging in the balance as he is presently undergo­ing intensive treatment at the poorly equipped clinic in the village.

The Fulani attack on the youth was unprovoked. According to Afam who struggled to speak from his hospital bed, he was going to the farm when he met the men on the way. “I met them on the way, they asked me to stop and as soon as I stopped, they brought out their cut­lass and started cutting me. They didn’t ask me any question, they just stopped me and began using the cutlass on me. I was going with my motorcycle, I managed to es­cape with blood all over my body,” he said.

Afam explained that he was dragged to the clinic by sympathiz­ers who met him reeling in blood on the road. He said having being rushed to the clinic, he later heard that his motorcycle had been burnt by the herdsmen who disappeared into the bush with their cattle. The nurse at the clinic, Miss Joy Eboma, gave a description of his condition when he was dragged to the village clinic. Eboma said, “I was here when he was rushed in from the bush to the clinic. He was macheted on the arm, buttocks and ankle. He was un­conscious when he was brought in. I had to quickly begin treating him so as to bring him back to life. We rushed him to the theatre, pumped blood into him, fixed drip into him before we began stitching the cut portions of his body”.

Miss Eboma said her quick inter­vention saved the life of poor Afam. She said the police in the commu­nity came for investigations and his relations were invited to the police station for statement. “Afam is still undergoing treatment, when he came there was so much bleeding, leading to loss of so much blood but we gave him blood before we started the treatment”, Miss Eboma added.

For Ndudi Chiedozie, it was be­tween the devil and the deep blue sea; he narrowly escaped death by the whiskers. Some members of the Fulani herdsmen had mercy on him; hence his deliverance from the jaws of death. According to Chie­dozie, he was confronted on the way from the farm where one of the three herdsmen demanded wa­ter from him. He declined giving him water citing their misbehaviour in the area. But that response was his undoing.

The angry herdsman snatched the water from him, drank it and cut the container into pieces and thereafter, stretched the cutlass to butcher him. But it seemed the gods favoured him.
He said the other members of the herdsmen pleaded with his as­sailant to let him go, having tak­en his water by force. Besides cut­ting his gallon of water, he also cut his bike, making it useless to him. Chiedozie said, “They were three in number, he didn’t give others from the water. He drank the wa­ter alone, then used his cutlass to destroy my bicycle and thereaf­ter stretched his cutlass to end my life. It was the other members of his gang that begged him to leave me alone, if not he would have finished my life on the road.”

Chiedozie, who is both angry and now afraid to go to the farm, said their farms have been destroyed by the animals as their cassava farms have been leveled, leaving them in hunger and starvation. Their only means of livelihood, he said, is the cassava farm which the cattle have destroyed. Hence, he said “we are very sad, we are not happy at all. We want them to leave our land, that is my opinion. Let them leave our land so that we can have peace of mind”.

The youth President, Lucky Ijibueze, expressed utmost sad­ness over the development. He said for over three years, the herdsmen have been unleashing havoc on the community dwellers. He said they have been doing much evil, raping women and abusing their girls in the farms. According to him, “If you meet them in your farm and say aboki, abeg oo, leave my farm, they will shoot you and cut you with cutlass. That is the battle we are fac­ing in this village. The community now does not know what to do. Ev­ery day, our women are afraid to go to the farm. If men do not accom­pany their wives to the bush, they cannot go alone. We are confused in this village, we don’t know what to do”.

He said the Fulani herdsmen have overtaken the community as they now seem to be the owners and landlords of the area. He alleged that the Fulani herdsmen at times shoot in the presence of policemen but no one dares apprehend them. To him, the situation has become so pathetic, noting that their silence was not weakness on their part but they are peace-loving, unwilling to fight back, knowing that such retal­iation could lead to unforeseen di­saster that could have monumental impact on the village.

“Not that we can’t arrange boys to fight the Fulani men, but we feel like maintaining peace in our com­munity. If we do as they are doing, you will see government arranging police to arrest our boys. It’s not that they are stronger than us, they are not stronger than us at all. It is the interpretation that government will give to our action that is making us to be silent. My suggestion is let all these people leave our village, they have a place where they came from, let them go back to their place, that’s all we want”.

Also, the chairman of the Com­munity Development Commit­tee (CDC), Kingsley Okoh, said the herdsmen have been terror­izing the community for over 10 years, mostly their farmlands. He said they kill with the gun, butcher with the machete and intimidate the people without provocation. “What happens is that any time our people mistakenly meet them in the farm, they challenge the person and when you try to beg them, please go out of my farm, they would use machete or gun on the challenger. Last year, their activities were so bad, so ram­pant in this village. And the butch­ering of this Afam is the latest of their onslaught on the village. Their motorcycles and bicycles were burnt by the men. This is too much for us to bear. We are no longer comfort­able with their activities”, he said.

But against the wish of his peo­ple who are of the opinion that gov­ernment should send them packing from the state, Okoh said rather than doing that, the state govern­ment should confine them to a par­ticular area where they could take care of their cattle. To him, sending them packing is not the best option. “One man’s food is another man’s poison. My own view is that they should confine them totally out of the villages. They can be confined to places like Asaba and Warri where there are no much farming activ­ities. There are cows in Abuja but they are not destroying things as they do here. If we say government should send them packing, what about our people in the North?” he asked.

The traditional ruler of the vil­lage, Okpara Uku Ijibeze, said many years back, cattle rearers were known to control animals with sticks but they have resorted to gun and machetes. But rather than using the gun to protect the animals, they now use it on fellow Nigerians. To him, this is inhuman and barbaric. He said his people no longer go to the farm for fear of the herdsmen. Like the view of many of his sub­jects, the Okpara Uku said the best option is for government to send the men out of the community for there to be peace in the area.
He said law enforcement agents should send them packing to their states and leave the village alone. “Our people are no longer going to the farm for fear of the herdsmen.

I don’t want to see them again in our land. We’ve been reporting to the police and the State House of As­sembly members but they are not doing anything. The chairman of Ndokwa East Local Government Area, Nkechi Chukwurah and the House of Assembly member repre­senting the local government, Fri­day Osanebi, have all failed us. Let Governor Ifeanyi Okowa come to our aid”, the traditional ruler plead­ed.

A community member, Patrick Onwuemene, also threw his weight against the activities of the herds­men in the village. He said there is now hunger in the village because the people no longer go to farm for fear of being attacked by the herds­men. He said the attack started since four years ago. Though the village youths could fight as a revenge against the Fulani activities, he said they are a peace-loving people who resent fighting against neighbours. He expressed fear over the surviv­al of the butchered Afam who was in the clinic as at the time of filing this report.

Onwuemene, who was a driller but now farms on yam and cassava, faulted the present government of President Muhammadu Buhari. Ac­cording to him, the change the Fed­eral Government promised is yet to come. “The new government told us they want to bring change but the change has worsened the whole sit­uation in the country. Where are we heading to in Nigeria? Are we head­ing to doom or where? We are not happy over the developments in the country. I can’t be in my own village and not have food to eat because of Fulani herdsmen”, he said.

He is also of the view that the herdsmen should leave the commu­nity. “We want government to step in and send them back to their land. They are from the North, let them return to their land. They should leave our territory so that peace will return to our land”, he added

http://www.metronaija.com/2016/03/fulani-herdsmen-kill-men-rape-women-in.html

cc: lalasticlala

I see that they are turning more bloody by the day

Our leaders keep them about farming in Nigeria and how to improve food production but Buhari's kinsmen won't even allow those that are currently farming to go to farm.

Are this people truly a curse in Nigeria?

Didn't Nnamdi Kanu warned us about THIS? Why are we outright stubborn?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tKMAeeAPcs

Fulani other state nor be Delta oh There is a reason why they called us the big heart oh hmmmmmm Nor start fight way you nor go fit finish oh

I read it somewhere that Boko Haram now pretend to be cattle raisers and they are in a mission to fulfill Bubu desire. May God save us from the hand of fulanis herdmens.

Animals in human skin

ipob cum nd see ur brodas oh! Buh yoruba seff

The invaders have already crossed river niger? These Buhari fulani militia are on steroids. Ameachi and the fulani militia have been given executive licence to open the gates of Hades on innocent Nigerians.

please Mods should move this to Fp

If I call for Nigeria to split, I will be called names.

The neighbouring communities should not be caught napping.
Defend your lands.
Defend your heritage.

Where is Ohaneze?
Where is Pat Utopia?
Where are the senators and reps from Delta State?

honestly, I am in pains.

For how long shall we due like chickens?

We must be proactive with our own weapons not reactive with tales of woes and tears.

Someone should convince me about Nigeria.

A call for secret militia

Fulanis understand one language that can stop them


Self defence

Their brother is in power, hence they can do what they like. This is part of the change.
Let's enjoy it.

Those fulani herdsmen will all perish IJN AMEN!!!!