The Executive Chairman of Etsako East local Government Area of Edo State, Princess Benedicta Attoh has lamented the spate of killings by marauding Fulani herdsmen and militias that has continued unabated across Council, saying Etsako East has become a killing field.
The LG bosd, in a statement by her Chief Press Secretary, Benjamin Atu, disclosed that at least three persons were slaughtered in Okpekpe community while seven others were matcheted in Itsukwi community.
According to her, the victims were killed on their farmland while others managed to escape with their lives putting the entire communities under panic.
Attoh said: "My people are being massacred like goats. Everyday, you hear that five or four people were killed; we cannot have the exact number of those that have been killed because some corpses are still in the bush and yet to be discovered. No axis is safe in our land both roads and farms. This was exactly what happened in Agenebode where the Youth retaliated that led to the burning down of the Police Station, killings and destruction of properties few weeks ago.
"The youths should now be allowed to defend their land. We are calming them down to forestall another fierce battle but higher authorities must be seen to be leading from the front."
Attoh frowned against the Federal Government's ambivalent stance amid the herdsmen's attacks which she said is costing too many lives. She said: "It is time to tackle this high level insecurity by deploying military in parts of the bush and farm areas to give the farmers an immediate sense of safety in their farm lands."
The LG boss urged the Federal Government must fulfil its primary purpose of securing the lives and property of every citizen.
"Etsako East is on fire. Killings and kidnappings are taking place daily and our youths are willing to defend themselves, their families and their land. Their patience has ran out so the government should be ready to accept the outcome of their action should they fail to provide protection. Nobody will fold his or her hands watching their family members killed in a gruesome manner daily like goats on their farmlands, she warned. She wondered if going to the farm has become a death sentence in Nigeria, as the killing has become a way of life without appropriate action taken against the herdsmen", she said.
She called on the National Assembly to legalise self-defense for every community.
"It should be so enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. Shall we continue to wait for government when we die daily?", she asked.
Monarch advocates establishment of Forest Rangers
Reacting to the incident, the traditional ruler of Okpekpe community in North Ivie Zone in Etsako East Local Government Area, where three farmers were slaughtered on their way to their farms and seven others matcheted in a nearby community, HRH Peter A. Osigbemeh, has called on the Federal and State Governments to Establish Forest Rangers to guard the forest by empowering the local vigilante and hunters with necessary security gadgets to enable them take charge of their own forest and defend themselves.
Osigbemeh said: "The current madness has gone beyond the mere establishment of security agencies and networks. The security should be deployed to the forest because our problems are in the forest and not in the land and the police can't manage this. We need forest Rangers who will permanently be based in the forest to enable farmers freely go to their farms. If the federal government and the State fail to do this then they should be able to explain to the masses if they have what they are benefitting from the daily killing and herdsmen madness. This is now madness no more normal."
The monarch also called for immediate arrangement on how to compensate Forest Rangers so that each community in Etsako East can set up their forest Rangers to stay in the forest and protect their forest.
He said: "We are not asking them to come and guard us, we can guard ourselves, just give us arms and compensation method for those to be in the bush. This problem of insecurity would have been resolved if it was handled in collaboration with the locals. This has been the missing link and if the federal government and State continue with the archaic method of securing the masses, they will never get it right."
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The monarch, who expressed worry over the unprovoked killing of innocent farmers, wondered if it has become a crime for farmers to seek for their livelihood.
"The entire community has been thrown into weeping and fear as farmers can't go to farm after yesterday's killings.
"Many of the villages are now empty as the herders are now chasing people away from their villages and homes and taking over. We can't continue to wait for the federal government because they have all the military but has refused to deploy them to the bush. Our insecurity problems are in the bushes and not in the town. Keeping the military in the town when the bush is in trouble shows unseriousness. Since the herders stay in the bush, we must also be ready to stay in the bush with them so that the towns can be safe for human to dwell", he said.
