Why Enugu Is Prone to Attacks By Herdsmen - Alhaji Sambo

The geographical status of Enugu State as the gateway to and from the northern part of the country in the south-east,south-south geopolitical zones has been identified as the reason why Fulani herdsmen's attacks have taken an upward trajectory, the leader, Hausa community in Enugu, Alhaji Abubakar Sambo revealed yesterday.

Vanguard gathered that 90 percent of herdsmen migrating from the north to the south-east and south-south regions pass through the ever busy 9th Mile Corner, Ngwo, Enugu corridor to access their various destinations.

This scenario, it was learned, has made the state prone to uncontrolled hibernation of the herdsmen.

Sambo spoke against the backdrop, weekend, where Attaukwu youths protested the continued stay of herdsmen in their community after slaughtering a Catholic seminarian, Lazarus Nwafor and Ifeoma Agbo.

Alhaji Abubakar Sambo, leader of Hausa community and member, Enugu Constituted Security Committee, said:"Enugu State is witnessing the spate of herdsmen attack because it is a major gateway to and from the northern part of the country to the south-east and south-south regions where these herdsmen come from."

"Before you access any part of the south-east or south-south, you must pass through Enugu. There are many routes which the herdsmen use to connect the state. Some of them come in through Kogi State-Uzo Uwani local government area of Enugu State. That was the route the herdsmen that attacked Nimbo used.

"Other routes are Obollor-afor in Nsukka,Orakamu through Benue to Enugu,Aghamelumu-Nsukka route among other routes. The herdsmen ply these routes to any part of the south-east and south-south. Most of them that are migrant herdsmen decided to settle in some rural communities in Enugu State while on transit. This scenario is what i think,make Enugu prone to incessant herdsmen clashes".

No grazing reserves, ranches in Anambra, says Obiano

 

The Anambra state governor, Willie  Obiano, has said the state had no plans for grazing reserves and ranches.

The governor stated this at the Council Chambers of Government House, Awka, in a press conference to mark the 25^th anniversary of the creation of the state.

Obiano said the state had the smallest land mass in the country and therefore would not want to embark on such land-consuming projects as grazing reserves and ranches.

He said even the state’s small land mass had been eaten up by erosion.

He said the state was in a discussion with an international partner to commence the animal  husbandry indigenous to the area.

On herdsmen attack of communities in the southeast, Obiano said, “on this issue, I am like the guy who saw tomorrow.

“Early in my administration, I constituted a committee known as cattle menace committee, which is headed by the commissioner of police, with five traditional rulers and leaders of the Fulani community in the state.

“We agreed in the committee that if the cattle belonging to the Fulani people destroy our crops, they will pay us; and if our people kill their cattle, we will pay them.”

He said the Fulani herdsmen had defaulted 11 times, and paid compensation to the natives, while the communities had defaulted five times, and paid accordingly for five cows allegedly killed by them.

He said it was agreed  that herdsmen would not be allowed to come into the state wielding AK47 riffles and other dangerous weapons.

He noted that the arrangement had guided the parties in their actions and conducts.

Enugu community men divorce women raped by Fulani herdsmen

Report reaching The Summons Post is community men in Enugu state divorce their wives raped by herdsmen.

The Eke Town Union in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State has decried the increasing rate of divorce occasioned by alleged rape from suspected herdsmen.

The town union’s President-General, Mr. Anthony Enu, spoke about the issue when he testified in the commission of inquiry into the killing of people in Nimbo community on Monday.

Enu said that the situation had become scandalous because no man would take in a woman who had been messed up by suspected herdsmen.

“The herdsmen are consistently raping our women and daughters infecting them with serious diseases thereby causing indirect divorce in our communities,” he said.

“If my wife is messed up by the herdsmen, why should I take her in again? This will mean that what is holding her will hold me.”

According to him, communities in the area have had their fair share of attack by the cattle breeders, adding that no fewer than 10 people had died as a result.

Enu recounted how three residents of Ogui village, Iloafonsi Ofokansi, Aniago Egbo and Josephat Maduweke, were killed in cold blood by suspected herdsmen in 2002.

He said, “Mr. Isreal Eneje was working on his farm with his daughter when the cattle breeders took their animals to his farm. He protested and told them to go away and they ended up killing him.

“They have killed many of our people in the past and in each case we report to the police station at 9th Mile.

“The herdsmen are now assuming to be landlords and have been harassing our people. They should leave our communities in peace.”

Meanwhile, the Agu Umabor Town Union in Nsukka Local Government Area has said that it is opposed to the creation of grazing reserves in their area.

The Secretary of the union, Mr. Livinus Odo, said this when he testified in the tribunal on their activities of the suspected herdsmen in the area.

Odoh appealed to the South-East caucus in the National Assembly to give a block opposition to the legitimisation of any form of grazing bill.

“They should vacate our communities because we don’t have enough farmland not to talk of the one for grazing. The herdsmen have committed atrocities in our communities and it has been a difficult time for our people and we appeal to the government to save us from this menace,” he said.

He narrated the experience of one Nnabuike Odo, a commercial motoryclists, who on May 10, 2016, was almost killed because he made a comment, which some herdsmen found offensive.

“They shot at him but he was so fortunate to escape their bullets,” Odo said.

“We have abandoned a particular road leading to our community because of them. My people have abandoned agriculture because of the herdsmen and we are helpless.”

The Chairman of the panel, Justice Chukwuma Eneh, said that the commission would accommodate all complaints and forward same to the state government.

“We will accommodate your story in our report and see if the government will do something to help you,” Eneh said.