Women from the Epie/Atissa communities in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State and Uromi in Esan North-East Local Government Area of Edo State, both from the South-South region of the country, on Wednesday staged peaceful protests against the menace of Fulani herdsmen.
In Bayelsa, the women waving leaves at the Tombia Roundabout, Etegwe axis of Yenagoa, also barricaded the ever-busy Mbiama – Yenagoa road, which is the major road leading into the state capital to drive home their demand for herdsmen to leave their farmlands. Chanting songs, they alleged invasion of their farmlands and destruction of their crops as agrarian communities.
Former Governor Henry Seriake Dickson had set up a committee to enforce restriction of grazing activities to the Bayelsa Oil Palm Estate, Elebele near Yenagoa during his second term in office.
However, nothing was done to punish noncompliance and it has become a common sight as herdsmen move their cattle along major roads in Yenagoa and Amassoma leaving a trail of smelling droppings and gridlocks on highways. Farmers have also been feeling the brunt of grazing activities as their crops are not spared by the herdsmen who clandestinely allow their animals to destroy farms without any recriminations.
With the state government keeping quiet over the menace posed by the herdsmen, the women took the bull by the horns by staging the protest to draw public attention to the destruction of their means of livelihood.
The women were heard shouting that enough is enough and that herdsmen should leave their farmlands and urged the state government to protect them and their crops from the herdsmen.
One of them said: “We cannot continue to keep quiet over this issue. We don’t want cattle in our area again. It is time for the government to act before something else happens.”
Governor Douye Diri has declared agriculture as a priority area and urged all executive members to own their personal farms, but his administration is yet to address the menace posed by open grazing to the issue of food security in the state which depends on neighbouring states for food supplies.
The protest of the women on Wednesday is among coordinated public outcries to the devastating effects of open grazing by herdsmen in the state as compared to neighbouring Delta State where there had been incessant feuds between the herdsmen and farmers, where there had been reported cases of rape and destruction of farmlands and crops by the herdsmen.
Also in Edo State, hundreds of women took to the streets of Uromi, the administrative headquarters of Esan North-East Local Government Area of the state, to protest the alleged incessant raping and kidnapping of their people by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
The protesting women who came from the main Uromi town and neighboring villages, assembled in the city centre. They later formed smaller groups and blocked major roads in the town, chanting solidarity songs, demanding that Fulani herdsmen must leave their communities. They alleged that they can no longer go to their farms for fear of being kidnapped or raped by the herdsmen.
They further alleged that the hoodlums have virtually taken over their farmlands and have always destroyed their farm produce. A source in the community who spoke to The Daily Times in Benin City on condition of anonymity said although the protest was peaceful, it, however, disrupted the free flow of traffic in the town.
