Herdsmen or hard-men?

Who are these that slay without restraint?

Who are these that thirst for blood?

Who are these that plunder the land?


Their herds destroy our land

Turning fields of greens to grounds of ruins

And giving our farms the semblance of siege

As if to say the locusts had stricken


Their hearts abhor our princely heads

They disdain our natural rights to life

They rebuke with the whip of death

Our courage to query their heinous deeds


At their might miles of farmland were thrashed

In their hands many a soul have ceased to breathe

Villages were razed and races aborted

These are not herdsmen but hard-men, the enemies of mankind.


The above poem is written by Idowu Adegbilero

A recent visit to a friend’s farm in Ogoja Cross river state, left me with feelings of pity, not just for him but for thousands of farmers in the region to whom farming is a major pre-occupation and income earner.

Even though i will not categorize my friend as a peasant farmer, the huge losses incurred yearly from the activities of these herdsmen has made a joke of the current agricultural drive of the present Nigerian government.

We have a major problem in our hands, and it will be a great folly to feign ignorance until it spirals into the kind of situation we have in Benue state which is just a few hours away (northward from Ogoja).

The herdsmen set your farm on fire so the can have fresh green grass for their herd.

They pull up your cassava so they can feed their cattle while you starve.


If I may add a few lines to Idowu’s poem…


They choose rather to burn and graze for cattle

As our food burns, we gaze, looking startled

wondering why so easily human life is substituted for cattle’s…

See below pics from my visit…




SEE MORE PICS

so touching..

OP Nice,very creative