In Ado Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State, farmers have been farming mostly cassava and yam. They have expressed displeasure over suspected herdsmen destroying numerous hectares of farmlands.
Farmers claim that their cattle, who were given free rein by Fulani nomads, ran amok over several hectares, causing destruction to their farmland.
One of the impacted farmers, Ibrahim, told reporters in Ado Ekiti that the demolition had an effect on around thirty farmers in the area. For the last two years, he said, the herders had been an ongoing threat, attacking workers on their farms and seriously harming their crops.
Ibrahim told the story of a terrifying event that happened a few months ago when he, his two brothers, and his kid were attacked by some herders and just escaped serious injury. He emphasised the habit of the herders to damage farmers’ properties and beat them, frequently due to rumours that cows were being murdered nearby.
The speaker stated, “We reported their attacks to the security agencies, but they did not take any significant action against us or our farms. They had been coming to beat us and do damage.” This is something we’ve been dealing with for a while.
However, there was a great deal of damage right now. Aside from the devastation they caused on my brother-in-law’s farm, they destroyed more than 4,000 stacks of cassava on my land. It touched more than thirty of us.
On occasion, they carried out the yam seeds and chopped them for their cattle in the new yam farms we recently planted. To prepare for planting again, some of us are now taking the seeds out to store them safely until the situation improves.
“They were uprooting the tubers to feed their animals, in addition to distastefully devouring the leaves and stems of the cassava. The administration shouldn’t have let these heartless deeds to continue unchecked since they were.
“Our source of income and ability to support ourselves comes from farming. We are being quietly murdered by these folks. In an effort to return us to a life of begging, they are destroying our means of survival.
“We are aware of our contribution to the achievement of food security in Ekiti from that axis, so it is time for the government to act.”
Governor Biodun Oyebanji, Mr. Dare Ogundare, the Commissioner of Police for Ekiti Command, and Brig. Gen. Olu Adewa, the Commandant of the State Amotekun Corps, all made appeals to Jamiu for assistance, pleading with them to step in and shield them from the needless farming destruction.
Our situation at Idege Farm has been reported to the police and the Amotekun corps several times, but it seems that these vandals see the law as unimportant. Jamiu came to the conclusion that this scenario could not continue.
