A socio-cultural group known as Esan Okpa Initiative, EOI, on Friday warned that if activities of killer herdsmen are not put in check, famine in Edo State and Nigeria at large is Imminent.
The group, majorly made up of the Esan speaking people of Edo State, comprising five local government areas of the state, expressed panic of a looming hunger, that would be occasioned by artificial famine in the entire five local government areas of Esan West, Esan Central, Esan North-East, Esan South-East and Igueben, as farmers had abandoned their farms, following the activities of herdsmen, who they said had laid siege to all the farmlands and major roads in the area.
Speaking on behalf of EOI at the group’s maiden press conference held at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Secretariat in Benin, to announce its birth, the President, and ex-Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Mr. Mathew Egbadon, demanded a time frame, within which all armed herdsmen ravaging Edo forests and farmlands must exit or be forced out.
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The group, in addition to the demand, called on the Edo State Government to urgently enact the State Anti-Open Grazing Law, in line with the decision of the governors of the Southern states of Nigeria, saying such laws should be in place by the Southern States by September 2021.
This was just as it expressed concerned about insecurity on the highway between Benin City and Ekpoma; and particularly within Esanland, where Fulani herdsmen and other notorious elements kidnap, kill and maim with impunity.
“Our people can no longer travel to Benin City, the state capital, to transact business without the risk of falling into the hands of kidnappers and bandits. We wonder whether the security forces have given up and allow these criminal gangs to operate freely without inhibitions day and night, on this road”, the group lamented.
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“In addition, the entire Esanland has been seized by the jugular by these marauders and kidnappers, who have killed scores, maimed, raped our women, destroyed farmlands and property, and induced payment of ransoms by their hapless victims”, EOI, further agonised.
“No day has passed in recent times, without reports of these bandits wreaking havoc on innocent and law-abiding Esan people, many of whom have been forced to abandon their farmlands and trades for fear of being raped, maimed, killed or kidnapped and made an object of ransom negotiations and payments.
“The situation has become dire, as our people, who are subsistent farmers, are now faced with scarcity of farm produce and high prices of the few available goods”, the Esan Okpa Initiative lamented
The group submitted that “A major issue that should be addressed, as a matter of priority, by the security agencies, is the allegation making the rounds, that when some of these marauders and kidnappers are caught and handed over to them, they are not made to face the wrath of the law by taking them to court, but instead are released together with their weapons”.
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Speaking on the state government’s recent direct intervention in the running of the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, the group appealed to the stakeholders of the University, that they must not, by acts of commissions or omissions, frittered away the solid achievements which the University had made since its inception, and which had brought glory and honour to Edo State.
The group called on the state government to make public recommendations made by the panel set up by the state government.
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