BENIN CITY – Suspected herdsman were reported to have invaded the farming community of 2nd Abumere Ojigbelu in Ovia Northeast Local Government Area of Edo State.
The invaders, said to be in military uniforms, were said to have carried out the attack at the wee hours on Sunday, January 2, 2022, shooting sporadically which forced the villagers to flee for safety, abandoning their homes, farmlands and properties.
Some of the fleeing villagers who ran away for dear lives are now taking refuge in other communities around Okada, headquarters of the local government, where they narrated their ordeal to Journalists.
One of the victims Mr. Mattu Alli, a native of Taraba State and a farmer in the community said: “In fact I am short of words to explain what I witness yesterday in our community. I have been here for the past 20 years with my family farming. I was in my compound with my family resting when we began to hear the sound of guns and people running to different direction.
“I saw one man running towards my compound I ask him why are you running and he said herdsmen have taken over the village chasing people away from their houses. So I called my wife and we have to run for our lives.
“Up till now, I have not seen my children because every one of us ran to different direction. As I speak to you now, I don’t know the whereabouts of my wife and children”.
“Another thing that put fears into our minds is that one of the herdsmen pointed gun at me and said look man we are for peace, we would only kill you people if you refuse to allow our cow to feed on your crops. The yams you people have are for our cow, the cassava and all that you have are for our cow. If you people touch our cow we will kill everybody in this village. We had to run to the next community to save our live,” Alli quoted one of the Herdsmen
Meanwhile, suspected herdsmen has killed an octogenarian, Pa Patrick Omonmhenle and declared his son Mr. Matthew Omonmhenle wanted for daring to campaign against the herdsmen’s onslaughts in the community and also mobilising the youth to resist the herdsmen serial attacks in the community.
According to our reports, “they attack and burn down our farms, they attack our homes and they are killing a lot of Christians and Youths of this community. They killed Pa Patrick Omonmhenle in his residence and declared his son Mr. Matthew Omonmhenle wanted”, the source volunteered.
“Many of our homes have been burnt down by these Herdsmen and members of the Boko Haram group. It was by sheer luck that one Matthew Omonmhenle, a Christian Youth Leader was able to escape death after the herdsmen murdered his father when they visited his residence,” the source added.
Speaking to our correspondent, Mr. Sunday Chime, elderly community leader and a farmer said since the past 18 years he has been living in the community, he has not experienced such horrifying incidents of killings and murder of Pa Omonmhenle,
“Since the past 18 years I have been living in this community, I have not experienced such horrifying incidents.
According to him, “I have been in this village for over 18 years plus farming in this community. What we saw yesterday surprised us, suddenly we heard gun shots and people started running.”
“We later discovered that herdsmen have taken over our community with sophisticated AK 47 and dangerous weapons, threatening to kill us if we don’t cooperate with them and allow their cows to feed on our farm crops and produce.
“For us to be alive, we decided to run for our dear lives leaving our properties with our children running to unknown place. We are calling on the security agencies to come to our aid as our community is under siege”, Mr. Chime concluded.
Similarly, one of the affected woman Mrs. Ngozi Chimen described activities of the herdsmen as horrible.
She said before yesterday attack they (herdsmen) have been in the community for over two month, harvesting our crops to feed their cow. They enter into our farms cut our plantain to feed their cow. Chase us away from farms. You dear not look at their faces. Some of them are in Army uniform. Just on the 2nd of January 2022, they invaded our village and chase everybody away. We need help from the state government”, Mrs. Chimen stated.
When contacted, Edo State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Kotongs Bello, said he was yet to be briefed on the development. He however, promised to call back as soon as he finished speaking with Division Police Officer (DPP) in charge of the area, but was yet to do so as at press time.