Fulani herdsmen recently
carried out their murderous attacks on farmers in Ndi Okereke Abam in Arochukwu
Local Government Area of Abia State, leaving behind tale of woes,
writes Emmanuel Ugwu
The harvest season of rice
has set in at Abam in Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State and farmers
are busy as they gather the yields from their farms. Like other farmers in this
agrarian community, Ezekiel Ebong and his wife went to their rice farm on the
fateful day of November 4, 2016 and harvested enough for the day. But the joy
that farmers usually have on day of harvest suddenly turned to sadness for
Ebong. He was dealt with several machete blows by Fulani herdsmen, who attacked
him after invading his farm and taking his wife.
The farmer, who hails from
Akwa Ibom State but resides at Ndi Okereke Abam in Abia State, narrated his
ordeal from the hospital bed where he is battling for his life.
He said that he had
decided to carry a bagful of rice home leaving his wife to watch over the
remaining harvest but on coming back cattle were all over his farm and he could
not see his wife. Then he heard the distress cry for help coming from his wife
who was being held by herdsmen.
“I could not bear her cry
and I rushed to rescue her from the hands of the herdsmen,” he said. It was a
daredevil effrontery since he was not armed while the adversaries were all
armed. The hapless farmer succeeded as his wife managed to escape while the
herdsmen were raining machete cuts on him.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Ebong had
run away to call other people for help and farmers in nearby farms answered her
distress call. Among them was Amos Omoro, who nearly lost his life in trying to
help his fellow farmer under attack. He said that indeed the herdsmen left him
thinking he was dead after using their machetes to cut him on the head and
neck. Omoro said that in his subconscious state he heard one of the herdsmen
saying: “This one don go, make we lefam”. It was because of their belief that
their victim had passed away that the herdsmen left him and continued to attack
other farmers.
By the time the attacks
subsided scores of people were left with various degrees of injuries out of
which six are in critical condition.
At a private hospital in
Ohafia where some of the injured are receiving treatment, Dr. Bernard Orji told
journalists that the victims have lost so much blood but their condition had
stabilised following quick medical intervention. He said they were responding
well to treatment, including the victim that was shot in his hand.
It was not until 72 hours
after the attack that the news spread to the capital city Umuahia. President
General of the Ndi Okereke Abam Town Union, Chief Chukwuma Egbuta Okubi, said
that the herdsmen attack came as a surprise. He said that the herdsmen had no
reason to attack farmers for asking them not to turn their farms into grazing
fields.
According to him, the most
annoying thing was that the herdsmen were very callous as they abandoned the
grass with which they usually fed their cattle and “decided to feed their
animals with our farm produce, the only source of our livelihood.” Okubi said
that there had been occasions when the herdsmen had provoked their host
community and were issued with quit notice. However he said that the quit order
was withdrawn following a peace accord and a pledge by the herdsmen not to lead
their cattle into the farms again.
The town union leader said
that the peace accord was working and the herdsmen were staying peacefully with
their hosts hence it came as a surprise when the herdsmen violated the peace
accord on November 4 by grazing on rice farms and attacking farmers.
He said that the situation
would have degenerated to unimaginable dimension if not for the intervention of
the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Leye Oyebade, who mobilised his men to
the conflict zone.
Even at that, tension was
still rising. But the member representing Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency
in the National Assembly, Hon. Uko Nkole has waded into the crisis to stop it
from getting out of hand.
The lawmaker had to rush
down to his constituency on receiving the information about the herdsmen’
attack. He was accompanied by Captain Awa Udensi (rtd), the Special Adviser to
Abia State governor on Security as he visited the hospitals where the victims
are receiving medical care. Nkole sympathised with them and paid their hospital
bills.
Addressing the people at
the Ndi Okereke Abam Town Hall, he called for peaceful co-existence between the
herdsmen and their host communities, adding that nobody should take further
action that could escalate the situation.
The federal lawmaker
assured his constituents that he would continue to do the needful along with
his fellow legislators to find a lasting solution to the frequent clashes
involving herdsmen and their host communities, which have become a national
problem. He said that lasting peace could be achieved through legislative
framework that would protect the farmers as well as the Fulani herdsmen. Nkole
said that without peaceful co-existence Nigeria’s efforts at development and
improving the lives of its people would be an exercise in futility.
“Nigeria is our country
and collectively we must make it work by mutual understanding and respect for
our various cultural values,” he said.
On the apprehension over
possible reprisal attack, the lawmaker said that contact had been established
with the law enforcement agencies through the Special Adviser on
Security to Abia governor to make sure that peace was maintained in the
community.
Special Adviser on
Security to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Capt. Udensi said that the state
government would continue to put in place measures to guarantee protection of
lives and property and peaceful co-existence of people living in Abia State. He
stated that the position of the state government on the issue of cattle grazing
has remained that Abia does not have enough land for grazing “but because we
are all Nigerians, the government has allowed a level of understanding to
prevail.”
Nonetheless, Udensi
pointed out that a robust approach would be needed in due course that would
involve “not chasing away the visitors but educating them on the need to
understand and respect our cultural values.” Apparently the Fulani community in
Abia are equally apprehensive of the consequences of the herdsmen’ attack on
Ndi Okereke Abam community hence their involvement in efforts to prevent
escalation of violence. State Chairman, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders, Hassan
Buba, has promised that such attack would not be allowed to happen again.
He said that all Fulani in
Abia State had been summoned to an emergency meeting with the sole agenda of
seeking out ways to ensure for peaceful co-existence with their host
communities. Hassan urged all parties to always report all provocative
incidents to the authorities instead of taking laws into their hands.
Unlike its neighbouring
Enugu State, Abia has relatively remained safe from the murderous activities of
herdsmen.
But having successfully
carried out serial attacks on some Enugu communities without any deterrent
response the herdsmen may appear to have enough courage to test the waters in
Abia.
There had been occasional
skirmishes between farmers and herdsmen but such incidents did not take the
bloody dimension as the November 4 incident at Ndi Okereke Abam.
Both the Zone 9 Police
headquarters and the Abia State Police Command have been involved in taking
pro-active measures to prevent violent clashes between herdsmen and
farmers.
These included organising
stakeholders’ meetings, town hall meetings, enhancing of community policy with
the inauguration of Eminent Peoples Forum as well as the inauguration of
herdsmen/farmers committee which is chaired by the state Commissioner of
Police.
It would therefore appear
that the herdsmen have slipped through these security nets to engage in violent
attack on the farmers at Ndi Okereke Abam.
For now calm has been
restored with multiple interventions by the security agencies, state government
and the federal lawmaker in whose constituency the attack took place. The
sustainability of the calm would however depend largely on the ability and
capacity of the state leadership of their Fulani community to rein in their
herdsmen members.
The youths of Abam,
according to the town union president were already rearing for revenge attack
before the quick intervention to calm frayed nerves.
There is no guarantee that
the people of Abam, who are famous warriors, would sheathe their swords when
next they are attacked by herdsmen.
The Fulani herdsmen may
refer to Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ to really understand the kind of
tiger they are pulling its tail.
16:13:00
