Not a few residents of Ketu-speaking villages in
Yewa North Local Government Area, Ogun State
were brutalised by soldiers who escorted herdsmen
to graze in the communities, prompting residents
and monarchs to cry out to the military and state
government for help, KUNLE AKINRINADE reports.
Seye Mulero panted like a rat that had just escaped the
claws of a ravenous cat. He could hardly acknowledge the
sympathy offered by the kinsmen that surrounded him,
urging him to take heart and seek medical treatment in
hospital as he pulled up his shirt to show his badly hurt body
at Ubeku village in Yewa North Local Government Area,
Ogun State.
“Sorry,” said some of the women repeatedly in Yoruba as
Mulero pulled up his shirt to show the wounds from the
flogging on his muscular body, urging him to go to the
hospital for treatment.
Mulero, one of the young men in the rustic village, had
drawn the ire of some soldiers by speaking truth to them.
The soldiers, numbering 10, had escorted some herdsmen
on a mission to intimidate the villagers after they resisted an
attempt by the herders to graze their cattle in the
community after alleged repeated attacks and killing of
farmers who dared protest the destruction of their farms.
The herdsmen, who had departed the village after their
continued presence was rejected by the villagers, had
suddenly resurfaced at about 2 pm on December 19, 2020
with a handful of soldiers from the 35 Artillery Brigade,
Alamala, Abeokuta.
The soldiers headed straight to the palace of the traditional
ruler of the community, Chief Olaleye Adigun, calling out the
villagers and warning them against preventing the evicted
herdsmen from returning to the village. It was in the middle
of this strange encounter that Mulero told the soldiers that
the herders would not be allowed to remain in the
community because of their brutal killing of residents and
the destruction of their farmlands in recent times.
Mulero said: “Everyone was frightened by the action and
utterances of the soldiers but I summoned courage to tell
them how a Geography teacher Mr. Yomi Akinola and two
students of Community High School, Ibeku, among others,
were killed by the herdsmen while our women were raped
and killed on their ways to the farm.”
Mulero’s blunt comments enraged the herdsmen who
immediately asked the soldiers to deal with him. The
military men allegedly responded by promptly seizing,
kicking and flogging the young man mercilessly, leaving him
serious injuries.
Recalling the ugly experience, Mulero said: “Before I knew it,
the herdsmen had motioned to the soldiers who
immediately pulled me out of the audience and flogged me
mercilessly with a wire whip. It was as if I stole something
valuable.
“As I speak, my body still aches because of the wounds,
even after I had been treated in a hospital.
“Numerous other villagers were subjected to the brutal act
as the soldiers escorted the herdsmen from one village to
another all in a bid to intimidate us into allowing them to
graze on our farms.”
Like Ubeku, like Asa, others
But Mulero and Ubeku village were not the only person and
area that tasted the bile of the soldiers who escorted the
herdsmen in a military patrol van from one village to
another. Innocent indigenes of Iselu, Ibeku, Agbon-Ojodu,
Asa and other villages were also harassed and assaulted by
the soldiers at the instance of the herdsmen.
After leaving Ubeku, the herders and the complicit soldiers
moved to neighbouring Asa, where they reenacted the
Ubeku scenario, causing the hapless villagers to panic.
At Asa, the herders sighted Mulero’s brother, Gabriel Mulero,
accusing him of being among the crowd that jeered them
after his brother was beaten up. There and then, the soldiers
seized the young man, giving him some deafening slaps and
kicking him mercilessly before whisking him away to a
neighbouring village, Agbon-Ojodu, where they dropped him
off after elders of the community pleaded for his release.
At Agbon-Ojodu the hapless villagers would not utter a
word, having heard how the soldiers harassed and
assaulted the Muleros. But despite their foreboding silence,
some of the residents received severe beatings from the
soldiers for keeping mum.
Gabriel (Mulero) said: “I was returning from a party at Asa
with one of our friends named Mathew Adaramaja when my
elder brother told me on the phone that some soldiers had
led herdsmen to our village and brutalised him.
“To avoid trouble, we stayed away from the scene and sat
near some commercial motorcycle operators. Suddenly, one
of the herdsmen named Ali led the soldiers to the spot
where we were seated and accused us of being one of the
people that were opposed to them.
“The soldiers descended on us with fan belts and flogged us
severely. They tied our legs and pushed us into their patrol,
van threatening to shoot us if we tried to jump down and
run away. They said they were taking us to their barracks at
Alamala. They accused us of preventing the herdsmen from
grazing on our farms and vowed to teach us a lesson.
“However, when they got to Agbon-Ojodu village, elders of
the community pleaded with them to free us. We were badly
brutalised and we had to visit Ibeku Health Centre for
treatment.”
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Sorrow, tears, blood from attacks
by soldiers
About 29 villages in the area had been attacked in recent
times by terror herdsmen who were said to have camped at
Eggua, a neighbouring town, from where they moved with
their hordes of cattle, ravaging farmlands within the Ketu-
Yewa communities, which share borders with the Republic
of Benin.
The villages include Ateru, Moro, Ologun, Agbon, Igbota,
Ogunba-Aiyetoro, Oke-Odo, Ibore, Gbokoto, Iselu, Ijale,
Ohunbe, Igbeme, Owode-Ketu, Igan-Alade, Lashilo, Oja
Odan, Ateru, Moro, Ologun, Iyana Meta, Igbooro, Egbeda
and Kuse.
The armed herdsmen, who usually lead their flock in search
of pasture because of the rich vegetation in the Ketu-
speaking villages, have also been fingered in the destruction
of cash crops belonging to natives, attacks, killing and
raping of women who are mostly natives of the
communities.
On January 10, 2020, herdsmen reportedly hacked 70-year-
old, Pa Sola Ilo to death, and chopped off his son,
Abidemi’s hand in broad daylight at Agbon village. Worried
by the incident, villagers from the 29 communities staged a
rally in protest and declared the herders persona non grata.
One person was reportedly killed on Tuesday May 5, 2020
when suspected herdsmen abducted a policewoman and
injured two others in separate attacks in Ayetoro area of
Yewa North Local Government.
The herdsmen who had laid siege to the road were said to
have shot dead the driver of a commercial bus commuting
from Abeokuta to Ayetoro, while the unidentified female
police officer attached to the Police Area Command in
Ayetoro was abducted and the car she drove was
abandoned at the roadside.
The herders also allegedly stabbed one Segun Ileyemi at
Olorunda village several times while trying to rob him of his
belongings, and he had to be rushed to Ayetoro General
Hospital for treatment.
The lawmaker representing Yewa North and Imeko-Afon
Federal Constituency, Hon. Olaifa Jimoh, had condemned
the spate of attacks, urging security agencies to save the
villagers’ lives.
Jimoh said: “It is no longer news that the dastardly act of
the Fulani herdsmen in my constituency is legendary as
records are available at various offices of security agencies.
But for how long will this continue?
“The herdsmen mostly lay siege to the roads as they wait
for my constituents, to either rob them of their belongings
or kidnap them outright.”
With the assistance of the local vigilance group and
operatives of the state police command, suspected
herdsmen involved in the killing of one Olabisi Afolabi and
attacks on some women at Moro and Eegelu villages in
December were apprehended.
One AK47 rifle, pieces of 0.8mm live ammunition, 26 live
catridges and two machetes were recovered from the
suspects-Mohammed Bello (40), Muhammed Momoh (30)
and Yisau Umoru (18).
Although, the suspects were paraded at the state police
command in Eleweran, Abeokuta by the then Commissioner
of Police, Ahmed Illyasu, their prosecution never saw the
light of day.
Residents, monarchs protest, write
military authorities
Palpable fear has since taken over the area with residents
deserting many of the communities for fear of falling victim
to the marauding herders, who are being backed by military
escorts.
Panicky villagers told The Nation of their plans to leave their
communities for fear of reprisals by herdsmen who have
been emboldened by the support from soldiers to forcibly
storm their villages and further destroy their crops and
attack them.
Oluwafemi Adeyemo, an indigene of Asa, said the incident
was an insult to the villagers who ordinarily deserve
adequate protection from the military.
Adeyemo said: The intention of the herdsmen is to
exterminate us and take over our villages, but we resisted
them because they have killed many people around here
and ravaged our farms for too long.
“It is thus an insult for soldiers to lead them to our villages
in an attempt to coerce us into allowing them to live in our
midst and further perpetrate their evil.”
Rafiu Alade, a native of Ibeku said the action of the soldiers
was a violation of the rights of the indigenes.
He urged the state government and military authorities to
call the soldiers to order to prevent the indigenes from
resorting to self-help in order to protect themselves from
herdsmen.
“How can soldiers back herdsmen to invade our
community? Yet, the soldiers flogged and beat up those
singled out by herdsmen as opposing their stay in the
communities. That amounts to a violation of people’s
fundamental human rights and a nod for perennial
lawlessness displayed by the herdsmen in our villages.
“It is high time the state government and military authorities
called these soldiers and herdsmen to order. Otherwise, the
villagers could resort to self-help to protect themselves
against the hoodlums.”
Worried by the development, monarchs of the affected
communities petitioned the Nigeria Army over alleged
connivance of its men with herdsmen to assault and harass
villagers.
The monarchs are the Oniggua of Iggualand, Oba Micheal
Adeleye Dosumu; the Eselu of Iseluland, Oba Akintunde
Ebenezer Akinyemi; and the Alademeso of Igan Alade, Oba
Gabriel Olukunle Olalowo.
The petition titled ‘matter of urgency’ dated January 7, 2021
signed by their lawyer, Mr. Olaoluwa Folalu, was addressed
to the Brigade Commander of 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala,
Abeokuta.
The petition reads in part: “Specifically around 2.00 p.m. of
the same day, the Fulani herders and suspected soldiers
entered Ibeku in a Nigerian Army pick-up vehicle and a
private car wherein they proceeded to the house of the
Baale (the traditional Head of the Ibeku community).
“The Baale was asked to gather his subjects and people
from nearby villages, which he did. The suspected soldiers
told the people that the purpose of their visit was to inform
them that the Fulani herders would be coming into their
communities to graze cows.
“Thus, the soldiers would ensure that there was no
breakdown of law and order. After their address, they asked
if anyone had question or comment to make in reaction to
the information.
“Expectedly, One Mr. Seye Mulero responded by calling the
attention of the soldiers to the inherent challenges of
allowing the herders in their communities based on the sad
previous experiences in the community.
“The said Seye Mulero further cited past killings, maiming
and destruction of farms to buttress his point. Sadly, at this
point, the soldiers seized him and mercilessly beat him up.
“In the same manner, the Fulani herders in company of the
suspected soldiers left Ibeku for Asa, the adjoining village to
address the Baale of Asa and his subjects as they had
earlier done at Ibeku. Shockingly to the soldiers, after their
address, the people refused to respond, having heard what
transpired at Ibeku. “However, one of the Fulani herders
sighted some people in the audience and picked on them as
those that purportedly shouted on them at Ibeku while
brutalising their victim (Seye Mulero). The herders asked the
soldiers to also deal with them.
“On hearing this, the people took to their heels. However,
one Gabriel Mulero, was not so lucky enough as the soldiers
grabbed him and ruthlessly assaulted him.
“He was whisked away in their pick-up vehicle to Agbon-
Ojodu, another adjoining village, where they compelled the
Baale to assemble his subjects for a forceful briefing. It was
at Agbon Ojodu that the said Gabriel Mulero was dropped
off from the Army pick-up following pleadings by some
community leaders.
“Kindly be informed sir that the alleged issue of procuring
soldiers by herders to escort them to forcefully graze on the
people’s farm, the attendant molestation of the innocent
people by the alleged soldiers and the destruction of farms
are known to the Police.
“On 3rd January 2021, the State Commissioner of Police
(CP), Ogun Command brokered a meeting over the matter at
the Police Divisional Headquarters, Eggua.
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“During the meeting, some of the herders confirmed that
they brought the soldiers that escorted them while grazing
their herds on the people’s lands; a development that the CP
himself strongly condemned.”
It will be recalled that the immediate past administration of
Governor Ibikunle Amosun had initiated a committee in a
bid to resolve incessant herders-farmers clashes.
“The committee had comprised community and traditional
leaders as well as the leadership of herdsmen in the state,
but the modalities recommended by the committee, which
included the registration and monitoring of herdsmen by
community and traditional authorities, were never
implemented throughout the tenure of Governor Amosun.
When The Nation contacted the Public Relations Officer of
35 Artillery Brigade, Major Osoba, he said that he would
contact his ‘boss’ to revert to our correspondent on the
matter.
“I will tell my boss about your enquiry and he would contact
you and give you explanation,” he said.
He, however, had not done so at press time.
Also, the spokesman of Ogun State Police Command, Mr.
Abimbola Oyeyemi, said he was in a meeting when our
correspondent called him on his mobile phone. He too had
not reverted as promised at press time.
Speaking with our correspondent Oba Akinyemi urged the
state government to intervene and resolve the matter once
and for all.
He said the soldiers had usurped the role of the police in
the matter.
“Soldiers have no business escorting herders to graze on our
farms; what they did is tantamount to usurping the police,
who are statutorily mandated to maintain law and order.
“The state government should wade into this matter and
ensure that justice is served as indigenes will not give up
their farms and cash crops to be destroyed by herders.”
Oba Akinyemi noted that the herders were trying use the
confrontation they had in Benin Republic to launch mindless
attacks on his people, using soldiers.
He said: “The armed herdsmen were recently repelled in
Oguba-Ayetoro, a Yoruba-speaking community in Benin
Republic which shares boundary with my kingdom. They
went into the village to graze, not knowing they were already
in another country and the gendarmes (police) repelled
them.
“Grazing is outlawed in the francophone country and
authorities of Benin Republic had communicated this policy
to their Nigerian counterparts, hence, the police there
confronted the herders.
“Now, they are passing off the village for a Nigerian territory
and using it to foment trouble everywhere.
“The state government should also empower and involve
the local council areas in initiatives aimed at bringing peace
and maintaining law and order in our communities to avoid
clashes, as indigenes are tired of being terrorised by
herders.”

https://thenationonlineng.net/soldiers-escort-herdsmen-to-ogun-villages-flog-residents-for-rejecting-herders/

Yoruba people should never depend on Buhari soldiers, Buhari has destroyed the military. over 100 soldiers resigned this week alone. Yoruba people should defend themselves against Fulani bandits. enough is enough