EDO POLICE HAUNTING DECLARES UROMI YOUTH, MOSES EBODAGHE WANTED OVER FARMERS/ HERDSMAN CLASHES IN EDO CENTRAL
19 March, 2016
By Lucky James
The lopsided manner in which the Nigerian government treats the herdsmen/ farmers clashes in practically all parts of the country and the seeming complicity of security agents in handling this urgent national security threat has once again come into national discourse with the recent farmers herdsmen clashes in Uromi, Esan North East, Edo State, South -South Nigeria.
According to reports, Fulani herdsmen, has become more daring and frontal in their attacks since early 2015 when Gen Muhammadu Buhari, himself a pastoral Fulani man came to power as Nigerian civilian President. In this particular incidence, hundreds of Fulani herdsmen with thousands of their cows have for months invaded Edo Central, especially Esan North-East, distroying crops and farmlands. The government and security agencies have either turned a blind eye to the plight of the natives or seemingly taking sides with the herders.
The story of one Moses Ebhodaghe, a native of Uromi, Esan Central who has now been declared wanted by the Edo State Police Command and now a fugitive for resisting the fatal attack by Fulani herdsmen which led to the brutal killing of his father late Pa Ebhodaghe and destroying of their crops and ancestral farmlands on March 10, 2016 has further highlights the plight of these farmers who now have no option but a resort to self help not just to defend their only source of livelihood but their lives and properties.
According to a villager who spoke to this medium but do not want his name in print, trouble started on the morning of March 10, 2016 when Moses Ebhodaghe went to his father’s farm to find some Fulani herdsmen with their cattle feeding and trampling on their crops. An infuriated Moses was said to have started throwing stone and dust to chase the cows out of the farm but the herdsmen came after him with AK 47 and machetes.
He was said to have taken to his heels with the herdsman in hot pursuit. Fortunately and unfortunately, his father, Pa Ebhodaghe riding on a motorbike had ran into them. In a bid to defend his son, the aged man was reported to have confronted the herdsmen who descended on him with machetes. Moses was said to have ran back to the community for help but it was too late. When he got back to the scene with the villagers, they met an unconscious Pa Ebhodaghe in a pool of his blood with the Herdsmen no where to be found.
Pa Ebhodaghe was consequently rushed to the hospital but he died that evening. The enraged villagers with Moses at the lead were said to have gone into the bush in search of the Fulani herdsmen. In the clash that followed, about 36 cows were reported to have been killed alongside one of the herdsmen who lost his life.
In retaliation, a day later, the Fulani herdsmen regrouped and attacked the community, killing, looting and maiming with millions worth of private and public properties destroyed.
Curiously, the police and security agencies who had acted helpless when those Fulani herdsmen were raping women and killing helpless villagers in a show of force moved into the community in search of Mose Ebhodaghe and other youths of the community whom they are now accusing of causing public unrest and mayhem. Though Moses Ebhodaghe managed to evade arrest while tens of youths in the community have been arrested and are currently in police custody.
The question here is; what are those villagers expected to do in the face of these insistent attacks on their farmlands, killings of their youths and random rape of their women?
With the recent arrests of innocent villagers for resisting those attacks, is the Nigerian Government and her security agencies actions in this case not giving credence to the claims that the herdsmen have the backing of a Fulani led Federal Government in what many see as a well orchestrated ethnic cleansing and genocide of Southern minority tribes to pave way for a total Fulani takeover of their farmlands?
Efforts to reach the main character of this saga Moses Ebhodaghe has so far been fruitless as he is said to be on the run from the police and was not even on ground to pay the last respect to his father who was buried a few days ago.
