Ganiyu Omirinde, a youth leader in Ayete/Kajola community of the Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State has said that despite the arrest and detention of Isikilu Wakili, his gang continues to terrorize the community with reckless abandon.
According to Omirinde, farms are still being plundered, women are being raped and farmers are being repelled by hoodlums from working on their farmlands.
Following the arrest of the 75-year-old Wakili, an alleged notorious kidnap kingpin by men of the Oodua Peoples Congress in Kajola village near Ayete town recently, the natives had heaved a sigh of relief with the assumption that they would experience peace.
However, Omirinde said their ordeals of many years of cohabitating with cattle herders still persists.
Giving account of efforts being made to live in harmony with the herders in Ayete and environs, he recalled their experience when sent to deliver a letter for peace meeting to Wakili through his son, Abu at Gaa Fulani weeks before his (Wakili’s) arrest.
He said, “I was part of the team that went to Wakili’s camp. The letter was to initiate peace between the rampaging herders and our community. We went as a team that day because of eventualities. The family and the entire community listed me among those who would bear the message, because I know the herders just as much as they know me.
“We went to their camp to hand them a letter on the fateful day, but they attacked us. That was eight days after Chief Sunday Adeyemo, aka Igboho, went to Igangan following which the Seriki Fulani of Igangan, Fatai Abdulkdri, was sent packing from the community.
“We went straight to their camp to hand over the letter to Abu, Wakili’s son. On getting there, we brought out the letter to hand it over to Abu. We were told that he was not around. They gave us an idea of where we could find him, so we traced him to the place. On getting to the place, we didn’t see Abu, so we returned to his place where we first asked after him. We left the letter for him there.
“On getting to where we parked the seven motorcycles, which conveyed us, we discovered that the Fulani boys had vandalised them. They swooped on us and started shelling us with pump action guns. We parked seven motorbikes somewhere under the cashew tree, about half a kilometre to Wakili’s camp. They destroyed the tyres and broke the speedometer and other parts.”
Asked how they escaped and evacuated their bikes to town from the jungle, he said, “Gunshots were fired at us but we were saved by metaphysical powers. We took to our heels and headed in different directions; some of our people ran to Kajola. We later decided to go and take the bikes from where we left them despite the danger involved. I risked going to our people in the Kajola community. We ferried the damaged motorbikes with a truck.
“The herdsmen had constituted nuisance to us. They vandalise our farms; they attack and inflict pains our men and rape our women. They beat many with sticks, clubbed many others, while they cut many more with machetes. They destroy property and vandalise farms, and at the end of it all, security agents will release the herders to go free without paying any compensation and without prosecution. They incapacitated us and turned us away from the farm. We became subservient to them and they now turn round to be the ones selling food to us. We have no option but to buy yam, maize and millet from them as they barred us from cultivating our land. We now have nothing.
“For us to eat, we go to cafeterias because we don’t have foodstuffs any longer. Ayete was a food basket before. Today in Ayete, you cannot eat N200 worth of amala and get satisfied because it is so expensive. All this is because we have been barred from our farms. We have to drink more water when eating. As we speak, a mini-truck load of cassava tubers is now N300,000, whereas it was N270,000. The problem is that it is very hard to come by.
“We escaped just narrowly. The Fulani men are armed with sophisticated weapons and they are very hostile. After our visit, they became more ruthless. They attack and injure our men just as they rape our women. There is no justice anywhere. We can only take the victims to hospitals. Many of the victims of rape are hospitalised for between two and three weeks. Many people sustained permanent injuries. They report incidences of rape and other forms of attack to me. I am usually involved in mediation during crises in Ayete and environs.
“We are appealing to Governor Seyi Makinde to let the Fulani move to their base out of our community. They have their own towns and villages; let them go back so that we have our peace back. We are being pushed too far. When we get to the elastic limit, we will resist the assault. It is the government that we are afraid of and not the Fulani. If we have our way, Fulani herders will have no place in our community anymore. As they terrorise us if we give them equal reaction, will they be able to graze their cattle?
“We want an atmosphere of peace where we can live our normal life. We give absolute regards to our governor and that’s why we maintain peace despite all odds. We are conscious of the law, because the law has a long hand that can catch up with anybody. We maintain calm despite the horrible experience because we don’t want to be seen as enemies of the state.
“The situation at Baba Pupa to Oke-Arinsa and Dagbere, Afuje to Kajola is tense as we speak. Those are no go areas. Now, the government doesn’t want the situation to escalate.”
