A group of farmers in Oyo State’s Oriire Local Government Area mounted a peaceful protest, pleading with both the state government and the Soun of Ogbomosoland, Oba Ghandi Olaoye, to intervene in response to accused herders’ frequent attacks on their farmland.
The farmers on Thursday, protested outside the palace of the Soun of Ogbomoso, pleading with the traditional ruler and other stakeholders to protect them from attacks on their fields.
The demonstrators, speaking via Aremu Ogundare, stated that they came from three distinct villages in the local government area: Kedo Arigbeyo, Kedo Salami, and Mosunmaje.
Ogundare, who also served as the Head of Kedo Arigbeyo, said that they had to travel to the palace to seek the intervention of the government and monarch since the claimed herders persisted in their damaging actions.
He said:
“Cows have become a menace to us; the problem escalated about four or five years ago. We don’t enjoy farming any longer; all the cassava we cultivated was destroyed by them, and no one has any cassava on the farm again.
“Then, the cashew farms we thought of falling back on, the herders would take their cows there in the night to eat them off. To feed our families now is hard, we can’t train our children in school, and those in higher institutions have returned because we couldn’t raise funds to sponsor them any longer. Feeding is also a problem. That’s the reason we came here with a save-our-soul message.
“We discussed it several times; we were at the police station; we reported to the local government chairman; none yielded any solution. The herders persisted. The harders macheted us, and oftentimes times they would kill anyone who resisted them.
“Women can’t go to the farm any longer; even we men venture out in fear, out of compunction, because we must feed our families. We are fed up we are helpless, that’s the reason we have come to seek the assistance of our royal father.”
cc: Punch Ng
