Enugu women stage protest amid physical attacks and rape by Fulani cattle herders

RURAL woman in Enugu State have taken to the streets to protest the growing menace of Fulani cattle herders whose livestock destroy their farms and who attack them physically whenever they confront them.

 

Of late, Nigeria has been beset with the problem of cattle herders constantly clashing with local farming communities over grazing rights. This has led to repeated bloody battle as tit-for-tat attacks between Fulani herders and local farming communities has left hundreds if not thousands dead over recent years.

 

Over the weekend, local women in Enugu State staged a protest to point out that they now live in fear and torment of Fulani herdsmen. According to the women, they can no longer venture into distant farms alone for fear of being raped and/or killed by Fulani herdsmen who have virtually taken over such land.

 

According to the women, although the Enugu State government has on several occasions assured that something was being done to arrest the situation, their efforts are yet to yield any impact. They claim horrendous incidents prevail in several communities across Igboland but in Udi and Ezeagu Local Governments Areas of Enugu state, the impunity of herdsmen has become more pronounced.

 

Now, the Church of Nigeria has stepped in to give the victims a voice and be in the forefront of addressing the issue especially in Udi and Ezeagu Local Government Areas. Under the aegis the Church’s Mothers’ Union/ Women’s Guild led by the bishop’s wife, Achogaonye Eze, they mobilised women from Enugu-North, Enugu-East, Udi and Ezeagu Local Governments Areas.

 

At the Enugu State House of Assembly in Enugu, they displayed placards calling on the state government to quickly halt incessant attacks by Fulani herdsmen who have taken over their farmlands and rendered them unable to feed their children. Some of the placards read Fulani herdsmen kill our people, Herdsmen Now Carry AK 4's and Fulani herdsmen should leave our farmlands.

 

Their protest also warned of impending anarchy in the event that government at both state and federal levels continues to remain indifferent to the security threat in the area in particular, and Igboland in general.  Mrs Eze lamented that the herdsmen have so far defied every entreaty by community leaders and public-spirited individuals to resolve the recurring problem, adding that the women whose lives are now in perpetual danger, cannot continue to keep quiet.

 

She added: “Women are daily being molested, maimed and raped while their farmland and livestock are routinely destroyed. Just the other day, they were alleged to have killed two men at Eke community, while incidents of robbery have become commonplace on the major roads, especially at Ugwu Onyeama, the major entry into the state capital."

 

Apart from the recent incident at Eke community where two men were allegedly killed by the herdsmen, they were also accused of kidnapping a woman and her pregnant daughter in Nze community amid suspicion that the family benefited from a stolen cow. They had stormed the villages claiming that their cows are missing and threatening to kill people if the cows are not found.