Igbo town ready to pay for cows they seized and barbecued, but…

File/Vanguard photo: Barbecued cow


By Ademola Adegbamigbe

Professor T. Uzordinma Nwala (Ikenga Itu) has written an open letter to the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzordinma, on behalf of youths of Ezinihite who captured some stray cows, killed and ate them-pepper soup, nkwobi, ofe Owerri and barbecue style! They did this to teach the Fulani herders who invaded and destroyed their farmlands a lesson. He said the community would pay for the number of cows, but advocated that the invaders must pay for what they destroyed and keep off the people’s plantations.

While he informed the Governor that the Elders of Ezinihitte, disapprove the action of some of the youths of Ezinihitte, in killing and sharing of some cows belonging to the Fulani herders whose cattle, numbering over 100, were seen roaming freely across the towns in Ezinihitte LGA, he threw in a caveat. 

He wrote: “In the same vein, we do, for obvious reasons, approve the courage of the youths in confronting such provocative intrusion of hordes of cattle across a land- starved agricultural territory. And this is happening at the very beginning of the farm season when crops (yam, cassava and vegetables) are sprouting. 

“It is not in ouir character. Therefore, we urge the Ezinihitte Traditional Rulers and the Town Unions to work together to ascertain how many cows were so killed and shared by our youths. Once this is done we shall pay for them.

“While we do this, we shall continue to encourage our youths to accept their duty to ensure that no animals are allowed to roam freely in our territory and destroy our farms and crops. However, of they catch such animals they should hand them over to the Town Unions and Traditional Rulers for necessary action.

“We urge Your Excellency to please help our people to protect their crops and farm lands. Our people say that Aku anaghi aka ibeya

“The Town Unions and Traditional Rulers should quickly reach the people in the affected communities in Ezinihitte to ascertain the total value of the Farm crops destroyed by these cattle and the

“The claims so ascertained should be forwarded to Your Excellency for recovery from the herdsmen on behalf of the affected poor farmers.

“This is imperative because the herders violated the law.

“There is a subsisting law of Eastern Nigeria against Open-Grazing. So

the action of the herders is a violation of this law. It is on this score that we urge your Excellency and our State legislators to take appropriate steps to enforce the Anti-Open Grazing Law throughout our State.

If the Imo State Government does this, we shall no longer have the kind of unfortunate experience we have in our hands now.”

Read the full letter below

……  

OPEN LETTER ON

THE INCIDENT ARISING FROM THE ACTION OF EZINIHITTE YOUTHS AGAINST THE TRESPASS OF THE FULANI HERDERS INTO EZINIHITTE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA.

1,, I write you most respectfully on the recent incident arising from the action of some Ezinihitte youths against the trespass of the Fulani herders into Ezinihitte Local Government Area.

In the first place, I wish to inform you that we, the Elders of Ezinihitte, disapprove the action of some of the youths of our LGA, Ezinihitte, in killing and sharing of some cows belonging to the Fulani Herders whose cattle, numbering over 100 were seen roaming freely across the towns in Ezinihitte LGA.

In the same vein, we do, for obvious reasons, approve the courage of the youths in confronting such provocative intrusion of hordes of cattle across a land- starved agricultural territory. And this is happening at the very beginning of the farm season when crops (yam, cassava and vegetables) are sprouting. This is about the third month of the year into our planting season.

We have no doubt that some of the youths may even have thought that their action in confronting the illegal roaming of those cattle at this period of COVID-19 Lockdown Order by your Government – the Government of Imo State – would receive the Government’s commendation.

We, however, think that while their action may be highly commendable from this standpoint they have no right, according to our tradition to kill and share the cow meat, no matter how hungry they may feel at this difficult times.

2. Your Excellency, as Governor of the people of Imo State, we urge you to institute an inquiry to find out the following –

i. From where did the herders and their cattle begin their movement before they strayed into Ezinihitte? And what was the reason for their strange movement which we understand took place in the night with over 100 cattle in the convoy.

ii. Does their roaming through Imo State not violate the on-going Lockdown Order of your Government?

iii. Do they have a right to roam freely with their cattle across an agricultural area, when the crops are just sprouting in the farms?

iv. In order words, did they violate any law?

This question is important because your Government can only survive by ensuring that Imo State is a law-governed society.

v. If they (Fulani herders) did violate any law, what penalty should be imposed on them?

In considering the last point, we wish to humbly draw your attention to the following.

a. Our customary law forbids roaming of certain domestic animals, to

wit; Goats, Sheep, Cows/Cattle. We believe our forefathers instituted this customary law because our territory is an agricultural area, just to protect the crops and prevent famine. Consequently, our custom demands that such animals are tethered and allowed to stay only in uncultivated lands for them to feed. Beyond this, the animals are kept in animal pens in the owner’s compound and fed there.

Children take the animals to uncultivated grass-lands before going to school and bring them back in the evening; while the women take the responsibility of fishing out animals that roam freely and have their owners fined for violating the customary law against open-grazing.

Your Excellency, this is the customary law in Ezinihitte as of today. Why many people do not remember it is because our people have

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been so accustomed to it that one does not find these animals in the

streets and farms in our area any longer.

b. There is a subsisting law of Eastern Nigeria against Open-Grazing. So

the action of the herders is a violation of this law. It is on this score that we urge your Excellency and our State legislators to take appropriate steps to enforce the Anti-Open Grazing Law throughout our State.

If the Imo State Government does this, we shall no longer have the kind of unfortunate experience we have in our hands now.

3.

Action Of Ezinihitte Youth Against The Trespass Of The Fulani Herders Into The Ezinihitte Local Government Area.

A Just Resolution of the present Incident Arising From The

Your Excellency, we wish to thank you for your desire to have this matter resolved amicably and we have urged our people to cooperate with your Government in achieving this goal.

We, therefore, further state as follows: –

i. That our people do condemn the action of those who killed and ate

the cow meet. It is not in ouir character. Therefore, we urge the Ezinihitte Traditional Rulers and the Town Unions to work together to ascertain how many cows were so killed and shared by our youths. Once this is done we shall pay for them.

ii. While we do this, we shall continue to encourage our youths to accept their duty to ensure that no animals are allowed to roam freely in our territory and destroy our farms and crops. However, of they catch such animals they should hand them over to the Town Unions and Traditional Rulers for necessary action.

iii. We urge Your Excellency to please help our people to protect their crops and farm lands. Our people say that Aku anaghi aka ibeya

iv. The Town Unions and Traditional Rulers should quickly reach the people in the affected communities in Ezinihitte to ascertain the total value of the Farm crops destroyed by these cattle and the

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herders. The claims so ascertained should be forwarded to Your Excellency for recovery from the herdsmen on behalf of the affected poor farmers.

This is imperative because the herders violated the law and secondly our people say anagh eji ihe onye ozo ahu nwata akwa.

Thanks and God Bless, Yours Truly,

PROFESSOR T. UZODINMA NWALA

Ikenga Itu