Whatever could be described as peace around here is that of the graveyard. The beating of war drums is an everyday affair. All the communities are on red alert against a common foe who has no room as prisoners quarters nor any willingness for any truce and exchange of war prisoners.  Their  trademark is to leave behind sorrow and blood whenever they are hindered from grazing their cows or stopped from aiding illegal loggers.

From the communities’ intel sources,  over 20,000 cows are moved in and out of the forests of Igbeti, Igboho and Sepeteri at will by the rampaging Fulani cattle herders.

Nearby is Kiama and New Bussa in Kwara State,  places where their signature of blood and tears leaves fearful scars hard to believe. The Kainji National Park has been destroyed. Its luxury multimillion-naira Oli Holiday Camp destroyed. Its pristine woods harvested, and its shrubs grazed limitlessly.

Park rangers who dared confront their nefarious activities were gunned down,  many kidnapped and yet to be seen. The deployment of Nigerian Army troops to reclaim the green biosphere is met with stubborn resistance.

These guys are not just cowboys, they are also land-grabbers, terrorists against the Nigerian state and efforts to secure and preserve earth resources.

Having devastated the forests of Kainji,  no doubt the rich fertile forests of Oyo West and its protected nature resources are high up on the invasion plan.

Oba Joel Olalere, the Alapata of Igboho,  Chief Adediran Ayodele, the Seriki of Igbetiland, and Chief Ganiyu Olaniyan, the regent and Ogoro of Sepeteriland, spoke separately with me on the menace  the Fulani cattle herders,  empowered by Miyetti Allah leadership to overrun their ancestral lands, which they swore to defend with their blood.

Oba Joel Olalere captured the mood of the people in an unmistakable bitter narrative: “Our open door and hospitality has been taken for granted by the Fulani cattle herders who insists we must hand over our ancestral inheritance or die.  But for the fact that we gave our lands for conservation, which has become our albatross, there is no way these land-grabbers and destroyers can drive us out of our land.”

Vexed beyond measure by the effontry of the notorious herders who also rob and maim at will, Oba Joel Olalere insisted that government must come to flush these nature criminals out of Igboholand or the people may be forced to do the needful.

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“We gave our lands up for the peace and progress of Nigeria but these criminals have turned our young persons to orphans. They rape our women at will, destroy our farm yields, poison our rivers and even kill park rangers who are mandated to protect the forest ecosystem. And, honestly, but for the patriotic park officers and our local vigilantes, we would have lost everything.”

In same vain, the Seriki of Igbetiland,  Chief Adediran Ayodele warned that, except government is sincere in getting these exploiters of natural and forest resources out of the entire Oyo West, peace will continue to elude the area.

“Our youths have no  jobs and since they want to stay busy by farming and trading in order to keep their eyes away from the protected areas, our only gain is the systematic killing of our women and young ones by these criminal elements. Each time we cry to government, we are assured only of sweet words and no action.

“Is it a crime to give our land for conservation? Is it right to allow strangers with their cows destroy our environment and communities? Is wrong to work together with government to protect our forests and we are yet abandoned by the same government when it comes to job openings for youths and women? We farm and the Fulani cattle herders destory our farms and when we speak up  some roguish security officers will turn our case upside-down and against us,” the Seriki of Igbetiland fumed in anger and disappointment.

In Sepeteri, which houses the Akoto Visitors’ Range, a similar cry against Fulani cattle herders rings a bell. The regent, Chief Ganiyu Olaniyan, bemoaned the absence of any federal government intervention as compensation to the vast land given out by the community for conservation.

He said: “We contribute and spend our little resources to help protect these forest enclaves from the Fulani invaders and nobody comes here to help us. Though we appreciate and commend officers and men of the National Park Service, they don’t have enough resources to attend to our developmental needs. Jobs for our children are not forthcoming and the little we get from our farms is deliberately destroyed by Fulani cows. Government must do something quickly before these areas implode. We cannot allow strangers to kill us because of our cultural and natural resource inheritance.”

We must tell concerned authorities at both federal and state levels to brace up for serious intervention before developmental dislocations, which may lead to war, break out in these places and may impede and hinder the growth of green biosphere space in this part of the country.  No doubt, Nigerian biosphere spaces have never been so challenged by these forces against nature. Sadly, it’s becoming a pattern that must attract focal security and funding interest.

Government needs an empowered Rangers Corps, fully kitted, armed, well funded and inspired, to save and protect our earth resources.