*The herdsmen: They are now unwanted  in communities

Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta

The Muhammadu Buhari  administration has been urged to caution the Fulani herdsmen, following the  increasing  killing of farmers in the country.

The call was made on Tuesday by the Agbekoya Farmers Revolutionary Group (AFRG) against the backdrop of continuous attack of innocent farmers by the herdsmen in many parts of the country.

Baale (the local chief) of Ayalu community,Oyo state,who also doubles as the Leader of Agbekoya Farmers Revolutionary Group, Pa (Chief) Olalere Ayalu expressed displeasure over recent attacks of farmers in some communities in Oyo state.

He warned that if the Federal Government failed to rein in the herdsmen,  the Agbekoya will launch a revenge protest of their own.

Baale Ayalu admonished the federal government not to let the event of 1968 repeat itself when the government of the Old Western Region under Governor Adeyinka Adebayo increased taxes and forced  wives of farmers to pay taxes. This  culminated into a big  fight between the Government and the Agbekoyas.

The Fulani herdsmen were  alleged to have attacked communities such as  Lagun, Iyana Offa, Offa, Alalagba, Lapala and other neighbouring communities in Lagelu local council area of Ibadan, Oyo State,the political headquarters of Yorubaland.

The Community leader alleged that a group of Fulani armed men attacked these communities at night, injured their guards and carted away valuables worth
millions of naira.

He disclosed that the herdsmen have no respect for human life, as they invade communities and killed innocent farmers unchallenged.

According to him,”in search for grazing pastures, according to them, they have left their footprint in practically every host community in the country that has had the misfortune of having them as visitors.

“They have rendered some villages in Oke-Ogun “a gaping wound”,the Community leader explained.

In the same vein, the National Secretary, Agbekoya Farmers Revolutionary Group, Mr Sola Ariyibi, urged the Buhari led federal government to call the Fulani herdsmen to order and stop killing innocent farmers across the states.

Ariyibi explained that the menace is getting out of hands in the country, as some farmers have no interest in farming again for the fear of being killed by the Fulani herdsmen who carry along  sophisticated weapons.

The AFRG Scribe further declared that the farmers have been silent because they don’t want to foment trouble and add more to the many problems being facing by the present administration.

But he warned that,if the herdsmen failed to stop the killings, farmers will be forced to raise arms in defence.

He advised that the federal government should,as a matter of urgency,deploy soldiers to all the crisis ridden areas so as curb the menace of the Fulani herdsmen and  put a stop to the killings.

“The President needs to be courageous, we know him as a man of his word and integrity, he will not be swayed away by myopic, parochial, religious and inglorious tendencies.

“We want him to protect his integrity. The Fulani herdsmen have done a lot of havoc in Nigeria,he should act now to stop them before they create more havoc in the country, enough is enough”, Ariyibi warned.