Herdsmen: Edo traditional rulers call for deployment of military operatives

Jethro Ibileke/Benin

FILE PHOTO: A herdsman in Nigeria

As the menace of herdsmen continue to generate tension nationwide, traditional rulers in the six local government areas that make up Edo North senatorial district have called on the federal government to deploy soldiers as backup to areas prone to attacks.

Edo North is made up of Akoko-Edo, Owan West, Owan East, Etsako West, Etsako East and Etsako Central local government areas.

Briefing journalists in Auchi, headquarters of Etsako West which is the senatorial headquarters on Thursday, the Otaru of Auchi, HRH Alhaji Aliru Momoh, Ikelegbe III, said their women have been raped by the rampaging herdsmen on countless occasions.

According to the monarch, the Nigerian Police possess inferior weapons to those carried by the herdsmen, which has resulted in unchallenged attacks in the area, just as he lamented that the vigilante groups who have in the past dared the criminally minded herdsmen have been demoralised due to irregular payment of their stipends apparently as a result of drop in government finances.

“We have a situation of the menace by Fulani herdsmen that have been operating and disturbing our farmers all over this place, it is increasingly very disturbing.

“Before now, herdsmen have always been coming, they have the routes they pass to the south and other parts over the years. But now there have been issues of destroyed farmlands or people being taken as hostages, kidnappers all over the place, that is something that we want government to do something about.

HRH Alhaji Aliru Momoh, Ikelegbe III

“We are appealing to the federal government to ensure that soldiers are deployed to some of these areas because we now find that the police don’t have the armoury, they don’t have the strength to address or frontally attack these very serious and violent situation that we are in. There have been serious kidnapping of people in this area and we want support from government, to help us dislodge these violent people.

“We have also noticed that the mobility of the vigilantes operating to address this issue is becoming seriously diminished they are no longer paying their stipends, before now, this state government had taken it upon itself to pay them stipends every month but because of the dwindling fortunes of the state, they have not been paid.

“The issue of vigilante is very important, they are not allowed to use heavy weapons and even at that they would want to dare the situation when it happens, but they don’ t get the backing of the police, adding that, the weapons these herdsmen are using is sophisticated that is why I said we need soldiers to come to the aid of our people.

“When women were being raped and their farms destroyed, we decided to ask women not to go the to the farms again because we cannot afford to expose our women to such dastardly acts, what we then did was to give them N24,000 each to go and look for small business to at least keep them alive.

“So, we thought when these people were no longer see people on farms again, the women and others, maybe they will seize coming to the farm, but they now abandoned that and they are now coming to disturb people in their communities and to kidnap them and extort money from their families. These people have become a threat not only in Edo north but all over the country,” the monarch said.

He therefore urged the federal government to act urgently and decisively.