Lateef disclosed that the incidence degenerated into crisis as the indigenes protested the dastardly act but did not kill in retaliation. “But the Bororo framed us up and went to the station to report that we killed some of them and their cows. As a result, the police came to the town to arrest indiscriminately, including our three monarchs namely: Oniro of Otu, Oba Sunday Adepoju; Onisa Osisa, Oba Isaka and Onibise of Ibise; Chairman, Association of the Descendants, Mr. Dejo and some mechanics. We had to ask other people they wanted to arrest to run away. Those arrested stayed about six months in the police cell in Abuja before we could raise huge money to bail them out. I learnt that we were asked to bring N1.5m but when we complained that we are not many in our town, they accepted N950, 000 which all the indigenes contributed. Senator Hosea Agboola eventually helped us with N2m. Dayo Adegbenro also helped.”
“If we see them coming on the farm, we have to run away for our dear lives. Three weeks ago, there was an incidence at Okaka. I was a victim. On my way to Otu around 7pm, they attacked us. They macheted one person but I escaped with the help of God. I was a farmer but I had to abandon it because of incessant destruction of my farm by Fulani-Bororo and their cows.”
Isiyat affirmed that ever since Fulani-Bororo murdered her husband, life is no longer the same as it has become difficult for them to survive and cater for the children the deceased left behind. “I am managing to continue to pay the school fees of my first born who the father put in a private school, Best Legacy Nursery and Primary School. Other children have been enrolled in public schools. I am begging the government to assist us by giving scholarship to our children”, she said.
Former Chairman, Itesiwaju Branch, Otu, Comrade Najeem Ayantayo disclosed to the magazine that he abandoned farming due to incessant attacks by Bororo, stressing that on several occasions, he had escaped death. He pointed out that there was a time he borrowed N70, 000 which he invested on farming but could not realise a dime because his farm was destroyed by Fulani-Bororo. He said, “If we see them coming on the farm, we have to run away for our dear lives. Three weeks ago, there was an incidence at Okaka. I was a victim. On my way to Otu around 7pm, they attacked us. They macheted one person but I escaped with the help of God. I was a farmer but I had to abandon it because of incessant destruction of my farm by Fulani-Bororo and their cows. They always threaten us with Abuja. They will say that if we misbehave to them, they will make sure that police arrest us and take us to Abuja. This problem has made the elderly ones to stay at home and survive with whatever the children give them. The Jukum are also affected. They attack them too”.
Equally, an Otu based commercial driver, Fatai Tafa, revealed that he left farming when the Fulani-Bororo destroyed his maize and groundnut farms, adding that it was highly pathetic that when he reported the case at the police station, the policemen asked him to go and find the culprit and bring him for them for prosecution! Likewise, some victims at Saki revealed that their own predicament from Fulani-Bororo is nastier than other parts of Oke-Ogun. They attributed this to the porosity of the borders, pointing out that most of the Fulani-Bororo who are foreigners settle in their towns whenever they come from Mali or Niger.
Prince Sola Oladepo of Oke Oro Baptist church, Saki, has abandoned his 10 acre-farm for fear of Bororo, claiming that they killed two of his relatives, Tijani and Taye. “We discovered Taye’s body three days after they killed him”, he said.
Elizabeth Olawale, 40 and mother of four had her ordeal on Wednesday 12 December 2012 when she was robbed of her money and handset and raped by eight Fulani-Bororo herdsmen. Her words, “I am a trader and I travel to many places to buy wares. On 12 December 2012, I went to Idera Area of Saki to buy wares but I could not get anything to buy. On my way home, we were two women in the vehicle I boarded and others were men. We met the Fulani-Bororo on the way. They beat us and collected our money. They also collected my handset. I just bought another one. They were up to eight. They took turns to rape me and the other woman on the road in the presence of everyone. They were armed with guns, dangerous weapons and charms. They operated for over one hour because many passengers from many vehicles were affected. Some motorists became victims because they thought that our vehicle had problem and they stopped to help out and also became victims. My husband would have sent me packing from his house if not the intervention of the elders. But he later showed understanding and treated me in the hospital”.
Ismaila Alade’s encounter with the Fulani-Bororo was another pathetic experience. Alade, 45, a father of seven and a practicing farmer at Igboosa Village along Komi Road which links Saki, headquarters of Saki West Local Government with Ago-Amodu, headquarters of Saki East Local Government, had different crops on his farm.
His misfortune occurred on Saturday 15 October 2000 when the Fulani-Bororo struck, burnt all the huts and barns containing crops and sprayed the house of Alade’s father with bullets. While others escaped being killed, Ismaila was hit on the left jaw by bullets from the gun shots fired by the attackers. He had his jaw, teeth and bones shattered. Few days after his admission at University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, the National Medical Association, NMA, declared a strike and UCH doctors joined. The strike was not called off on time. He was discharged without being attended to and he had to wait for one year two months before operation could be carried out on him. He spent one year six months in the hospital.
Narrating the story on his behalf because he could no longer talk very well, his uncle, a sign writer in Saki, Mr. Timothy Oladokun, living at No. 28, Idi Igba, Saki, revealed that the treatment cost N250, 000, saying that they had to sell their property to raise the money. He added that Saki West Local Government assisted with N20, 000. Though, he still engages in farming, he could not do much again as his burden has been tremendously shifted to his relatives.
Primate Samson Ojoawo, about 80, husband of eight wives and twelve children, a farmer, hunter, and leader of United African Baptist Mission, did not only have his two acres of cassava farm destroyed in a day by Fulani-Bororo but was also incarcerated by the police in Abuja by the powers that be. He disclosed that on Friday 23 January 1999, he sent his two children, Isaiah and Mathew, to the farm for them to meet about 500 cows being managed by six cattle rearers eating his cassava. Attempts to stop them resulted in the cattle rearers opening fire on them but they were not hurt and they later left after they had destroyed the entire farmland. The case was reported to the police. However, non-response from the police irked the residents of the town and they protested. The Fulani-Bororo demonstrated their superiority when they reported to the police that Oloawo was a spiritualist using human blood for his spiritual work. The Fulani specifically alleged that one of them caught him drilling the blood of a Fulani-Bororo into a calabash for spiritual usage. Ojoawo was arrested and incarceration by the Police at Abuja for six months before his release when no offence could be established against him.
Leave a Reply