₦airaland Forum

How Fulani herdsmen killed 2 of our hunters —Oyo community leader

The people of Ogbooro community in Saki East Local Government Area of Oyo State have been living in fear of persistent violent attacks, which some members of the community alleged were by Fulani bandits. The Chairman of Irepodun Omo Ogbooro, BabaAwo Ajayi Kolawole Ojeponle, in this interview with SAM NWAOKO, speaks on the development. Excerpts:

How true is it that your community has been under series of attacks for some time now, and there are allegations that the attackers are Fulani?

It is true and we have been speaking up about this.

How many times have this happened

Last year, 2020, there were attacks on the Ogbooro – Agbonle road. Three persons were killed in the attacks, although the victims were not indigenes of Ogbooro. They were travellers on the road. This year alone there have been attacks three times and in one of the attacks, two members of our vigilance group were murdered.

Members of your local security outfit were murdered?

Yes and both vigilante members are indigenes of Ogbooro. They are Ojetunji Oladokun Akanbi and Owolabi Rasak. They were attacked and killed on the 8th of this month, and that was the third attack we would experience this year alone. On the day the two security men were killed, they were on duty at the kraal in the community. What we gathered was that they were invited to provide security and escort for some traders as the market was for the next day. So, the two men escorted the traders to Ilesha Ibaruba. On their way back, in fact they were about two kilometres from Ogbooro when they found that some passengers had been waylaid by criminal Fulani people. The passengers, who were robbed on their way, were the ones who came to report in the town what had happened. They said the Fulani were about 15 in number and that they opened fire on the two men as they rode on a motorcycle. They reported that the gunshots didn’t kill them, and their machetes were ineffective. They were eventually clubbed to death.

Would you say that the vigilante men were known to their attackers

They might know them, because they recognise us but we don’t recognise them. Secondly, they were in uniform and there is no way criminals would sight security personnel without tagging them enemy.

How has the killing of your community security operatives affected your morale and that of the others? Has it detracted from what they are doing?

We are still grateful to God because the hunters and vigilante are not discouraged, and this is largely because the need for security has become heightened. Since the incident, we as a community have taken some steps, including a visit to the Police DPO. This became very important because the very next day, in the early hours of March 9th, the bandits robbed again at a point on the road to Igboho. Nobody died in that attack. Our hunters went after them and have been working round the clock to see how to bring the attacks and robberies under control

What have you seen as steps taken by the DPO and his officers and men? What have they been able to do?

I must commend the police in the area because they rose against the incident, especially the killing of our people on March 8th. The police in collaboration with members of the local vigilante went after the criminals. They continued in their joint efforts the second day. We want to inform the government that the criminal activities of the Fulani in our area are becoming unbearable. And we do not have enough security personnel to tackle this criminality. The government must take urgent steps to bring this criminality under control. It is very important.

In the meanwhile, what is your community doing? What steps are you taking

We are not just folding our arms. At the same time, we are wary of what might happen if we rise to defend ourselves, because we feel that the security presence is grossly inadequate. We don’t want to go against the law, and we might be tagged as taking illegal steps when we retaliate, because we have seen that the criminals cannot stand the heat if we turn it on them. And if we continue to wait for the government and the security agencies to protect us without any concrete action, we will not just sit there and be slaughtered by Fulani bandits; our people might make moves to protect themselves and their property. The government and the security agencies must rise to the occasion because our people are getting impatient. They must act fast on this and bring it under control so as to prevent the people from taking laws into their hands.

It is believed that there is a large Fulani presence in your council area, and that they have been there for a long time. How much Fulani are there in your area, and especially your community and how was the relationship?

There are lots of them. We have many Fulani people living in our community and some of them have been around for so long that they now build permanent structures, the kind the Yoruba build. They no longer build the kind of huts or such temporary structures they are known with. Such Fulani people that have been with us have property and farms, which are known to the locals. Those ones are not our problem, because they are not the ones attacking their hosts. However, they are bringing in some of their kin as workers, people to work for them as labourers and farm hands from their respective states of origin. We learnt that what these farm hands get as payment is one animal, after working for six months. We learnt that they are given virtually nothing else in all the time. So, how would they feed and take care of themselves? We suspect that these employees are the ones that have turned to criminals terrorising our area.

So, you are saying that there is a difference between the Fulani that you know and those who are killing and robbing and so on?

That is right. They are quite distinct; we know and recognise some of these differences easily. And that has been the reason we have been trying hard not to go on the offensive, because when there is a crisis there would be confusion. We have called the Fulani that are with us and told them to desist from bringing in strange people into the town, because these invitees are the ones who put all the community into trouble

As a leader in Ogbooro town, what do you want the government to do? How do you want the government to intervene?

We want the government to intervene in what has been happening. We need security presence on the Ogbooro – Agbonle road because the frequency of attacks on the road is too high. A week hardly goes by without violent robbery on that road. It is that bad. We therefore would appreciate it if the government deploys soldiers on the road and in other parts of the council area. We plead for increased security presence. The road leads to Ilesa Ibaruba and these robberies have hindered economic activities among the people. It is sad.

EastisBae:
It has become absolutely clear that the fulani herdsmen in Nigeria just like the supporter of APC militia in Sudan under Omar Bashir are on an aggressive drive to take over people's lands all over Nigeria.

It is happening in Plateau, Kaduna, Benue, Oyo, Ogun and so many other states but thank God for ESN. They know they can't dare such madness in Igboland like they're currently doing all over Nigeria.

God bless ESN for protecting Igboland from these hordes of savages called fulani herdsmen.

Okoroawusa:
All these fake herdsmen stories everywhere... bloggers go just siddon formulate stories and bring to the public domain...

Upon all these herdsmen stories everywhere yet cow markets are populated all over the South. People are still buying cows for various purposes on daily basis. Who is fooling who? Where are the cows?

These stories are getting boring abeg!!!

AdakaBoro8:
guy u dey reason with ur head so?? big as igbo is. 3rd largest tribe for that matter has not rule this country. even small fulani dey rule..

the only big tribe south could have be proud of end up useless..

if not yoruba north could have erase south name off the seat..

igbo is a disgraced to the entire south.. abeg south should gather and displaced igbo with ijaw as 3rd largest tribe..
because the uselessness of igbo is worrisome.

WorWorBoy:
[s]Jonathan once said he's an igbo man he even adopt the name Azikiwe is Jonathan igbo? come tell me igbo man i want to see how your empty head really works.

While you at it,tell me what's the meaning of Dokubo in igboland and when did lost jews like you start bearing Dokubo as names.

Talking of clean,I've seen what your bleach bleach,hairy looking bear bear face igbo women look like, I won't even dream of comparing those igbo Apes with ijaw queens[/s]

WorWorBoy:
What is the meaning of Dokubo in igbo? When did igbos start bearing Dokubo as names ? you can't even answer the question you are just running around in circles.
One of her parents being igbo ( maybe her mother) doesn't mean anything, in Ijaw land a child is asked Who is your father not Who is your mother. Seeing that she bears Dokubo as name indicates that her father is ijaw which means she's ijaw and nothing else.
Hilda Doukubo look exactly like ijaws I've seen a lot of of ijaw women who are more beautiful than her eg.
The likes of Ibinabo Fiberesima, Anna banner, Dabota Lawson and so on.

Ekealterego:
Do not be deceived, half of the people there are not 100% Ijaws... Most of them were part of the Igbo Ijaw experiment that was performed to improve the genetics of their offsprings....

Ask him how many of those guys he mentioned are from Bayelsa?

Let me give you a few examples, Hilda Dokubo as you could see is obviously Igbo blood... You can check out her interview with BBC Igbo

Graysons:
Don't waste your time on that coconuthead126 he's a son of a igbo wh0re the maggots knows nothing apart from licking his mother Toto and drinking the discharge that comes from there.
coconuthead126 is a cursed upon mankind just like his worthless igbo tribe.

ijawcitizen:
IGBOLAND CAN NOT WIN A WAR AGAINST NIGER DELTA.

Igbos declaring a war against the Niger Delta is like resetting time to the period of the civil war after the igbo invaders of the Niger Delta had been driven out of Benin, Warri, PH, Calabar, Bonny, Uyo etc before the Operation OAU dealt the final blow on their indefensible igbo territory.

We surround them from three sides, Where do they hope to get military and food supplies to sustain a war? From their Fulani allies from the north of Igboland? That is if fulanis and Igala islamists are not also simultaneously plundering Igboland from the north.

Graysons:
If you don't know the likes of Lulu Briggs and Jack Rich then you are a fool,even God himself can not cure you of your foolishness.
The way you Okoro monkeys brag about how you have achieved this and that,one will think the east will be like Dubai. But no the east is the opposite of Dubai, the east is the worst place on earth,even the devil and his demons will reject to live in that hell east you call home igbo m0ron.

SaintBishop:
how will you know them when you are a fool?worworboy don't Entertain this m0ron he doesn't even know who his father his.

SaintBishop:
You are just a dumb igbo fool who don't know his left from his right now get out of my sight i don't have time to educate fools like you.

WorWorBoy:
I didn't mention the likes of

Late Chief Dumo Lulu Briggs

T.S. Jack- Rich

All these people i mention are just ijaws from River state and i didn't even mention all of them.
Now imagine the ijaws from other states and their achivement dude i don't want to brag,but the things ijaws have achieve, no tribe or ethnic groups in the Niger delta has achieved it.

SaintBishop:
Don't mind the igbo dumb pig he is as foolish as his moniker Coconuthead126

WorWorBoy:
Google is not a reliable source so there information can not be trusted There are many notable ijaw men are women the likes of
Dame Patience Faka Jonthan

David Ibiyeomie

Agbani Darego

Taribo West

Finidi George

Rex Lawson

Harcourt Whyte

Sam Dede

Hilda Dokubo

Ibinabo Fiberesima

Walter Anga

Harry songs

Late j.t. Tom west.

I can go on and on dude the list is endless.

SaintBishop:
Where is the screen shot you said you Google pig? i'm still waiting for it.

SaintBishop:
Where is the screen shot you said you Google pig? i'm still waiting for it.

SaintBishop:
You did kwashiman man? now show me screenshot as proof.
Diezani is a igbo criminal who deserves to burn in hell and rape by the devil for all eternity for her criminality.We don't even consider her ijaw to begin with, I was surprised when a human eating savages like you mention her,but then again you are cursed ones so it is in your DNA to glorify criminals.

gidgiddy:
You said Ndoki is is Ijaw? There must be two Ndoki's out there because the Ndoki people I know are ethnic Igbos indigenous to Abia and River states

valirex:
[s]Let that vote be in your Ibo lands, no carry am come my sid[/s]e

SaintBishop:
Have already told that flapdoodle of your brother kwashiman that i don't rate my people with people who are cursed from births,who are haunted like animals everywhere they go, but your bilge of a brother just like you is too stupid enough to process what i typed he keep mentioning me up and like the biblical cursed cain who is cursed to roam around the earth aimlessly
Wait a minute are you him? you type excalty like him.
If you want to know the achievements ijaw women have made Google it up i will never compare ijaw women with the notorious,infamous,igbo Wh0res never

Ekealterego:
Even she had to look for an Igbo man to cleanse her before she achieved anything.

SaintBishop:
At least we are not endangered species, unlike you igbos who are mark for death once you leave your potor potor eastland because of your criminality
If you want to know about ijaw women who are making waves in the diaspora,go google it up,I'm not here to educate you.