Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Scores of farmers and residents of about 12 villages in Oja Odan town and its environs in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, have protested the incessant attacks by herdsmen and wanton destruction of their farm crops by grazing cattle.
The protesting farmers, who marched to the palace of the Eselu of Iselu Kingdom, Oba Akintunde Akinyemi, yesterday, alleged that one of them was killed recently by the herdsmen, who also chopped off one of the victim’s son’s hands.
They further alleged that they have lost tens of millions of naira worth of farm crops to the over 8,000 cattle that routinely graze on their farms, devour the crops and trample down others as they move indiscriminately from one end to the other.
A chief in the community, Festus Olabode Aina, who spoke on behalf of the protesting farmers, said the herdsmen were intruders from the Republic of Niger and Chad, having been chased out of Republic of Benin by the country’s soldiers.
He added during the exodus, the herdsmen surged into their villages and practically took over the farms and forest.
Aina urged the monarch to convey their plight to the state and federal governments to come to their rescue, noting, “there could be bloodshed as witnessed in 2007, should the peace loving villagers’ patience thin out and give way in self-defence to direct confrontation with the rampaging herdsmen.”
He added that their age-long stream that supplied them water for drinking and domestic purposes had been polluted with cow droppings, while their women and daughters have also suffered abuse.