No fewer than 50 women from Ubulu-Uku in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State took to the streets of Lagos on Saturday protesting against the increasing state of insecurity in their agrarian community (back home) which has now become a haven for herdsmen and kidnappers.
They used the occasion to call on the State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, the Executive Chairman of Aniocha South LGA, Hon. Jude Chukwunwike and all the traditional chiefs in the community to join hands and put a stop to what they described as a dangerous trend.
Speaking to newsmen on the sideline of the protest which took place in the Ojota area of Lagos where they had earlier gathered for the social wake keep of a deceased member of Osodieli (women wing of Ubulu-Uku Descendants Union), Mrs. Felicia Obokoh, the Acting National President of Osodieli; Dr(Mrs) Veronica Chigbufue said it had become imperative for the women to cry out as the main source of livelihood of people of Ubulu-Uku town which is farming has greatly been endangered by the invasion of herdsmen and kidnappers in the community.
According to her, many farmers can no longer access their farms for fear of being attacked or killed by the herdsmen whose cows keep ravaging the farms and feeding on yam, cassava, maize and other crops. These cows are aided by their herders who are often armed with AK47 rifles and other deadly weapons to ward off any challenge.
After 35 years of meritorious service to Nigeria in the teaching profession before retiring into consultancy services as an administrator, Chigbufue who holds Masters and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees, like any other Ubulu-Uku indigene living in the city or outside of Nigeria would have loved to always visit home for one activity or the other, yet such is no longer possible for fear of being kidnapped for ransom. Kidnapping in the community according to her, was a twin crime with herdsmen’s invasion and attack on Ubulu-Uku residents.
Giving details of what is happening at Ubulu-Uku, Dr. Chigbufue said: “The only source of livelihood my people are known for, is farming, other vocations are secondary. In times past, many neigbhouring communities usually came to buy in large quantity, products of farming like yams, garri, pineapple, tomatoes, pepper, vegetable, plantain, banana etc from Ubulu-Uku market. We had food stuff in abundance in those days but it is no longer so, because our people are no longer going to farm for fear of being attacked by Fulani herdsmen. Our people are harassed every day.
“Many of our farmers have continued to be assaulted. This had been going on for quite a long time and its escalating dangerously by the day. It has come to the stage where we, women would no longer keep quiet but have to start something from somewhere. We just have to let the state government know about our problem, though it is not as if those in power are not aware of this mishap at Ubulu-Uku but they would pretend to be ignorant. We, Ubulu-Uku women resident in Lagos have chosen to come out this time with placard in the public space to draw attention of government and we are going to sustain such public protest to drive home our issue.”
The women leader further stated that “we do not want cows to be reared in our community. Ubulu-Uku people are not cow herders, we are farmers and there is no way cow and farm can be friends. There is never any way cow and farm can be friends because the products of the farm are the means of livelihood for the cow. The cow like to feed on crops in the farm and we cannot continue to suffer in silence by allowing cows to destroy the labour of our farmers.”
The Osodieli President expressed worry that “this new ugly development whereby people are scared from coming to their town particularly for fear of being kidnapped is making the herdsmen happy and gradually, they are taking over the community and settling down with ease because the natives who are running away for fear of being attacked or kidnapped may never come back to the community. This same thing is happening in Plateau State and some other parts of Middle Belt. All the people who ran away from their communities as a result of the herdsmen’s attack cannot come back to their fatherland anymore,” she explained.
“In the same vein,” she said, “if we lose Ubulu-Uku to herdsmen and kidnappers, we are surely going to lose it forever, hence we are making this clarion call for government to quickly take a decisive step. We are pleading with Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to look into this issue of herdsmen. We do not want them in our community. Government should set up a grazing land or ranch for the herdsmen and their cows and let them make provision for their food stuff. They should stop going into people’s farms, because the herdsmen are the ones harassing farmers, women and everyone in the farm.
“They are the ones butchering men in the farm. How can a man labour so much, plant yams, harvest same and preserve some tubas in the ground only for the herdsmen to dig out the yams and give same out to their cows to feed. We are begging the governor to quickly look into this issue of herdsmen and kidnappers. The government should not leverage on the internal misunderstanding in the community as an excuse to abandon us to the herdsmen and kidnappers. Even though we have vigilante operatives in our community, we need well armed state security agents who can conveniently deal with the situation. We voted for the politicians now in corridors of power and we expect them to protect us and not to abandon us in this period of insecurity.
“We also want to call on the Aniocha South LGA Chairman, Pastor Jude Chukwunwike to use his position to help our community. He is our son and he knows of a truth that when two elephants are fighting, the grass suffers. In this case, women and children are the grasses that suffer this situation of insecurity as men who are farmers can no longer easily access their farms, thereby creating hunger for their wives and children are home. Our chiefs should also join hands with the state and local government authorities to restore security in Ubulu-Uku, so that peace can reign,” Chigbufue pleaded.
