Residents of Ogbaru
Council area of Anambra State are now living in fear due to a recent clash
between Fulani Herdsmen and people of Okoti Village in Odekpe Community.
The clash allegedly left
three persons injured and one purportedly killed.
According to an eye
witness, the clash resulted following an alleged rumour that some herdsmen had
killed a farmer in the bush in Okoti and the natives, mainly youths responded
with matchete cut on three of the herdsmen.
It took the prompt intervention
of men of the Onitsha Naval Outpost who on getting the information quickly
mobilized and took over the place, to stop the crisis from escalating.
Investigations also
revealed that there are rumours that youths in Okoti and other neighbouring
communities such as Atani, believe some elders in the communities had collected huge sums of money from the Fulani
people and allocated them some parcel of land as grazing area, a development
that did not go down well with them.
The latest incident, it
was also gathered, was not the first as a local farmer who pleaded anonymity
claimed they were being harassed on daily basis by the herdsmen in their farms
and they dared not talk for fear of being killed.
It will be recalled that
Anambra State Government had earlier in 2015, inaugurated a Cattle Menace
Committee in the state which is believed, is driving the cordial relationship
the state presently enjoys with the herdsmen.
The Committee which is
headed by the State Commissioner of Police, comprises the Miyeti
Allah(representing the herdsmen), leaders of communities with pastures,
security operatives among others.
With the agreement reach
by this Committee, both the herdsmen and their host were brought to an
understanding and made to agree to pay in full for crops destroyed or human
lives lost.
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