…say ‘we can’t go to our farms anymore’
Scores of women in Uromi, Esan Local Government Area of Edo State, on Wednesday trooped to the streets to protest against alleged criminal activities of herders in the area.
The angry women demonstrate across streets in the town, demanding the immediate eviction of herders from the area.
They accused the herders of being behind the violence, killings, rape and kidnappings in the area.
Some of the women said they can no longer go to their farms for fear of being raped and killed by herders who have formed the habit of grazing their cows on their crops.
The protesters sang war songs, chanting “Fulani must go” while they blocked major roads in the town.
Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, had in January asked herders to vacate the forest reserves in the state over rising insecurity.
Akeredolu said criminal elements masquerading as herdsmen had turned the forest reserves into hideouts for keeping victims of kidnapping, negotiating ransom and carrying out other criminal activities.
But presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, faulted the governor for issuing the order.
South-Eastern states’ governors, on Tuesday, reiterated the ban on open grazing of cattle in the region.
