Soldiers now aid herdsmen. Photo credit: The Nation

Fulani herdsmen are becoming more brazen in their criminal activities in the South West. They are now being aided by soldiers, agents of coercion of the Federal Government!

Apart from Northern part of Oyo where Sunday Igboho took it upon himself to fight the invaders, Ogun villages too are undergoing the same brutalities. Hardest hit are Ketu-speaking villages in Yewa North Local Government Area, Ogun.

According to a story by The Nation, some of the villages are: Ubeku village, Iselu, Ibeku, Agbon-Ojodu, Asa, include Ateru, Moro, Ologun, Agbon, Igbota, Ogunba-Aiyetoro, Oke-Odo, Ibore, Gbokoto, Iselu, Ijale, Ohunbe, Igbeme, Owode-Ketu, Igan-Alade, Lashilo, Oja Odan, Ateru, Moro, Ologun, Iyana Meta, Igbooro, Egbeda and Kuse and others.

About 29 villages in the area, as contained in the story, had been attacked in recent times by terror herdsmen who were said to have “camped at Eggua, a neighbouring town, from where they moved with their hordes of cattle, ravaging farmlands within the Ketu-Yewa communities, which share borders with the Republic of Benin.”

The story has it further that Seye Mulero of Ubeku village was seriously beaten by soldiers from the 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta.  “Mulero, one of the young men in the rustic village, had drawn the ire of some soldiers by speaking truth to them. The soldiers, numbering 10, had escorted some herdsmen on a mission to intimidate the villagers after they resisted an attempt by the herders to graze their cattle in the community after alleged repeated attacks and killing of farmers who dared protest the destruction of their farms.

The herdsmen, who had departed the village after their continued presence were rejected by the villagers. Sddenly they resurfaced at about 2 pm on December 19, 2020 with a handful of soldiers.”

In order for the situation not to get out of order, analysts wanted Genenera Tukur Buratai, the Chief of Army Staff, to deal brutally with the soldiers in question from Abeokuta.

Read the full story in The Nation

Atrocities of the Fulani in the South West was so serious that the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, wrote a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari in July 2019 letter, which was heavily circulated this week on social media in the wake of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s quit notice to the Fulani from the reserve forests of Ondo State and Sunday Igboho’s challenge.

Alaafin Adeyemi and President Buhari, righy

Alaafin listed some of the crimes committed by the Fulani in the South West. These victims, as Oba Adeyemi put it, included the Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikole Branch, Adeola Adebayo whose decomposing body was eventually found after a ransom price of four million Naira had been paid. Others were two officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps, both Yoruba, picked up along Ilesa-Akure highway. In the process of this kidnap, an unnamed individual died. “Musibau Adetumbi, a legal practitioner based in Ibadan was going to attend an Appeal Court session in Akure when he was kidnapped along Ilesa-Akure highway. Professor Adegbehingbe, a surgeon at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife was abducted along Ibadan-Ile-ife highway. Dr. Muslim Omoleke, the Administrative Secretary of the National Electoral Commission was kidnapped around Ilesa, Osun State. Mr Ayo Oladele, an employee of Guinness Nigeria and an Old Student of Christ School, Ado-Ekiti was abducted and taken away and lately, Dayo Adewole, son of a member of your 2015-2019 executive council and Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole was kidnapped on his farm at Iroko, a village along Ibadan-Oyo road.”

Read a related story, Oke Ogun Countryside, under Fulani siege,

It was published by TheNEWS in 2015