Eze Martin Orizu, the traditional ruler of Ndiakunwanta Iheme Arondizuogu Autonomous Community, Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State, is living in perpetual fear. His fear stemmed from the persistent cases of kidnapping and armed robbery being experienced in his domain.

He told our reporter when the latter visited the area that his subjects, who are predominantly farmers, were living in fear of frequent robbery and kidnapping on the dilapidated 51-kilometre expressway that traverses more than 100 communities in the South East region.

He said: “No day passes without an incident of armed robbery and kidnapping on this all important but dilapidated road, which slows down vehicles and provides the opportunity for hoodlums to attack their victims.

“Not only that. Our people, who are predominantly rice farmers, cannot move their farm produce to town because of the bad road.”

Eze Orizu told The Nation during a peaceful protest organised by some indigenes of the area that the road had become a death trap for travellers.

He said: “The activities of criminals in ikpaora, ikpeze Uno, obiinetiti, Ndimoko junction have become unabated.

“Our people are being killed, raped, robbed and dispossessed of their belongings daily.

“We are tired of begging; we want the government to intervene.

“We are calling on government, relevant bodies, security sectors to call the contractor to come and fix the road.”

Also, the Eze (traditional ruler) of Iheme Izuogu community, who doubles as the Chairman of Arondizuogu Council of Traditional Rulers, as well as the Chairman of Ideato North Traditional Institution and Community Policing, HRH Eze Kosmann Ndubuisi Kanu, said a lot of robbery and kidnapping cases happen on the deplorable road almost every day.

The monarchs, lamenting the deplorable condition of the road and the hardship arising therefrom, said: “Today, it is impossible for us to use this road unlike before when we simply came out and boarded a vehicle to Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country.

“We were told that a contract for the rehabilitation of this road was awarded

for about N12 billion some years ago and the money was paid, but only a minor work was done and it did not take long before it deteriorated to what you are seeing now.

“The worst of it all is that armed robbery has now become the order of the day. We have written to our federal lawmaker, Hon. Pascal Obi, but nothing has been heard about it ”

Emeka Ezeoke, the legal adviser of Arondizuogu Patriotic Union, was not left out of the voices of lamentation as he appealed to the appropriate government agencies to come to the rescue of the people.

“We can’t carry out economic activities. Everything is crumbling. Our tourism life is almost non-existent. Government should save our souls,” he said.

Angered by this development, protesting residents of the affected communities in Ideato North Local Government Area, Imo State said it was not the first time they would be crying out to the Federal Government over frequent robbery and kidnapping incidents on Arondizuogu Road, which they said is the gateway to other communities in the South East zone.

The aggrieved indigenes, who carried placards bearing such inscriptions as “The suffering is unbearable,” “Our people are dying”, “Stop killing and stop kidnapping,” “No election here in 2023 unless FG fixes this road,” “Okigwe/Arondizuogu Road has become kidnappers’ den and “We need urgent help,” to express their anger, attributed the unseemly development to the deplorable condition of Okigwe/Arondizuogu/Akokwa/Uga/Amichi/Nnewi/Oba road.

They believe that the bad road does not only impede the transportation of their agricultural produce to the urban centres but has become a terrible den of robbers and kidnappers.

According to the aggrieved indigenes, the 51-kilometre road was constructed in 1982 by the Shehu Shagari administration but has now become a death trap for travellers. The indigenes threatened to boycott the nation’s 2023 general elections in their area should the Federal Government fail to fix the road before the polls.

In a petition titled “Failure of Arondizuogu-Okigwe Federal Expressway” and addressed to the member representing Ideato North and South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Pascal Obi, dated February 20, 2020 and signed by the President General Mazi Peter Obiagwu and Secretary General Engr. Chinedu Okparaeke, the communities noted that some portions of the road, particularly the Arondizuogu-Umulolo section, had failed for almost 15 years.

“Since January 2021, the Arondizuogu- Umulolo portion has failed completely. In the past 13 months the adverse economic impact is severe, worsened by reports of over 15 kidnappings and armed robberies in that stretch of road over the same period.”

The Federal Government owned IBU irrigation project in the area and some filling stations on the road have since been abandoned due to its dilapidated condition.

Speaking to The Nation, the member representing Ideato North and South Federal Constituency, Imo State, Dr. Pascal Obi, admitted that he received a petition from his constituents complaining about the deplorable condition of the road.

He said that he had been working tirelessly to ensure that the condition of the road was brought to the attention of the House and the Federal Government.

“I have moved a motion which was adopted and sent to the Committee on Works, and the Federal Government promised to capture the road in the 2023 budget. So, the issue is receiving attention,” he said.

Only two weeks ago, he was in the company of friends hanging out in front of his house at Yaunde area of Tumfre, Gombe. Then four members of the staff of Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC) came to mend the high tension cable (HTC) dangling closer to the low tension cable (LTC). In the process, the HTC became intertwined with the LTC.

Observing the situation, 38 years old Andrew Abu Yaro had warned that what the JEDC officials had done would kill somebody in the area. His words turned prophetic about one week later as the technical error turned into a tragedy that consumed four lives, including Yaro’s.

On April 27, one week after Andrew warned of imminent danger, a huge power surge had resulted in the supply of high voltage to the homes of residents in the area. Then came a whirlwind that caused the HTC to further intertwine with the LTC, causing the 11 KVA transformer on the street to go up in flames. Yaro did not live to tell the story of his earlier warning of imminent disaster. He died alongside three others while attempting to switch off his refrigerator to save it from the high voltage supplied to his home around 3 am.

Yaro was said to have been knocked to the floor as soon as he touched the switch box. A powerful white flame brightened the room and hit him in the head. His body dried up immediately and life was sniffed out of him within seconds.

Yusuf, Yaro’s elder brother and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), who was contacted on the phone, said by the time he got to Andrew’s home, he found him lying on the floor “like dry crayfish”.

Fighting back tears as he spoke, Yusuf said: “My brother’s death was caused by the carelessness of JEDC men and I will not keep silent until justice is done”, he said.

Another brother of Andrew, Yunana, who was also caught in the incident, was however lucky to live and tell the story.

Walking up to our correspondent with his left foot and hand wrapped in bandage,  he said: “Around 3 am in the morning, I heard a neighbour in my compound shouting, ‘fire, fire, help, help!’

“When I got there, I saw his electrical fuse in flames and I went there to switch it off.

“After that, I realised that a similar thing had happened in my brother, Andrew Yaro’s house.

“When I got there, I broke the door and entered and I saw him lying dead.

“Although I was about one or two metres away from him, I could not help him because I noticed that something like a blast of furnace was hitting his head from the refrigerator.

“As a result, the entire house was so bright.

“I then ran out to remove the electrical fuse on the wall. While I was doing that, I suffered electrical shock which gave me the injuries you are seeing on my hand and feet.”

The situation was even more pathetic in the home of Patrick Okeke, who was not at home when the incident occurred. His wife, Christiana, and daughter, Ifunanya, were both electrocuted while also trying to save their refrigerator from the power surge.

Christiana was said to have been woken up by the strange noise from the electrical appliances in her home and immediately rushed to switch off the refrigerator but was electrocuted in the process. Her daughter, who woke up shouting Mummy, Mummy, rushed to the scene, touched her and was also electrocuted.

Okeke, whose house was three poles away from Yaro’s, said he was not at home when the incident occurred.

Narrating how he lost his wife and daughter in one night, he said: “On Tuesday, I spoke with my wife because I was at home in Onitsha for one of our friends’ burial. I told her I would come back on Wednesday. I called her again in the night before I went to bed and we spoke.

“Then around 3 am on Wednesday, one of my brothers called me from Gombe, saying that there was electric shock in my house and that my wife and daughter were electrocuted.

“I was shocked and couldn’t sleep again. I had to hire a driver from Onitsha to take me to Gombe.

“All along, I thought I was dreaming. But when I got here, it was terrible. I saw my wife burnt like a goat and my daughter was like that too. Immediately, I lost control of myself and started crying,” he said.

The home of Pastor Solomon Ayanwale located directly opposite the Okeke’s also went up in flames. All the electrical appliances in the house and all the cables were burnt.

Both Ayanwale and his wife, Elizabeth, suffered serious injuries. Pastor Ayanwale, who was later rushed to the hospital, suffered a deep cut in his tongue which turned black from electric shock while his wife’s arm was also burnt.

Like the other victims, the couple also suffered electrocution while trying to save their electrical appliances from the sudden power surge.

Mrs Ayanwale said: “We were sleeping around 3am while one of my daughters was watching a film in the living room. Suddenly, she saw the electrical switch board going up in flames.

“She came to our window and started shouting fire, fire. That was how the two of us rushed out.

“When we came out, we saw that all our electrical appliances were on fire. Daddy then quickly ran to the change over box.

“As soon as he touched it, the box exploded. Then he ran to his car and brought out fire extinguisher to put out the fire.

“As he rushed into the sitting room, he fell down. Then my daughter shouted Mummy, let us go out of the house.

“But the gate was locked and the key was on the refrigerator, so I rushed to take the key.

“As soon as my hand touched the refrigerator, it knocked me down. Then I started shouting.

“As the current ran through my body, I was shaking furiously. I later managed to get up when I heard my daughter shouting Mummy, get up please; let us go out.

“Our daddy took the gate key and wanted to open it, but the electrical current also flung him and he lay on the floor.

“His tongue cut so they had to stitch it in the hospital.”

Mrs. Priscilla Adum had just finished conducting her night prayer and was about to lay on her bed to rest when she noticed a strange sound coming from the fan.

“So I jumped up and rushed to switch off the fan. But before I reached the wall, I heard a sound of something exploding.

“I switched the fan off and rushed to the living room only to find that the power stabilizer and deep freezer were burning.

“As I stretched forth my hand to switch off the refrigerator, I was thrown away and I hit my head on the ground and my hand was burnt.”

The day after the incident, 20 years old Sunday, an apprentice to Eze Jonas, was also electrocuted while trying to switch off the generator when electricity was suddenly restored.

Eze’s house located in the same neighbourhood was thrown into mourning with Eze weeping uncontrollably as mourners thronged the house.

The loss of Sunday was a huge shock to him because the deceased had just returned home to switch on the generator.

Residents protest, demand justice

The news of the four people electrocuted in Tumfre spread like wild fire, forcing Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya to pay a condolence visit to the bereaved families and donating N1.5 million to them.

Governor Yahaya called on JEDC to immediately correct the electrical anomalies and restore electricity. He also called on the state’s Emergency Management Agency to also look into the damages caused and offer assistance to the victims.

A week after the incident, residents of Yaunde gathered in the streets to protest what they described as injustice in the operation of JEDC. The placards carrying protesters demanded justice for Andrew Abu Yaro and others, saying their death was caused by ineptitude on the part of JEDC.

Counsel to the late Yaro, Barrister Rabiu Ayuba, who spoke with journalists on the protest, said a letter had already been written to JEDC demanding correction of the errors in the electrical connections in the area.

“This is a public interest agitation for negligent action of JEDC in that a high voltage line, as you can see up there, was intertwined to a low voltage line by the action of JEDC in which high voltage electricity was supplied to Andrew Abu Yaro’s house, which led to his electrocution.

“So, this agitation is calling on the company to come and remedy the kind of connection that they have done here so that tomorrow, another person will not die,” said Ayuba.

According to him, the death of Yaro by electrocution is a crime caused by negligence on the part of JEDC.

“It is the duty of government to investigate that aspect of the crime and prosecute whosoever is culpable.

“But for the family and residents of Yaunde, they have the right to press a civil action against the company for compensation and for them to come and remedy the damage that they have done in this community,” he said.

He added that if the demands of the Yaro family and the residents of Yaunde were not met within the specified time, they would file a legal action against the company in a competent court of law.

JEDC Regional Manager Auwalu Jada, in his reaction to the incident, regretted the tragedy in the area, describing it as unfortunate.

Jada said because the matter on ground involved the loss of human lives, JEDC had been very careful in handling it, especially because emotion was so high.

“We are also human beings and we know what it means when lives are involved in a matter like this.

Jada said: “It is just very unfortunate and we console the families of those who lost their lives as a result of this incident.

“I have gone there to commiserate with the family. I wanted to go immediately we heard about it but security reports from DSS warned me against it.

“But when I learnt that Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya was visiting the victims’ families on that day, I quickly grabbed the opportunity to join his entourage and visit the families.”

He confirmed the receipt of a letter from the lawyer of one of the victims but said it was such a complex incident that involves two other federal government agencies on electricity control.

“Therefore, it will take time before we can get all the parties involves in Abuja who have to carry out investigations on it and submit reports before we can decide on what to do,” he said.

Jada noted that over 85 per cent of electrical connections in Tumfre area of Gombe needs to be completely overhauled and corrected because most of them violated electricity regulations.

He said: “If we really want to go by standard, I think 85 per cent of the wiring in Tumfre should be replaced.

“First, the LT poles they are using are not the ones recommended, but people mount pressure because of the economic situation in the country, begging and sometimes crying, giving all sorts of excuses like being pensioners, and so on.

“Some of them do not even mind sleeping at your doorstep just because they want you to connect their houses to electricity.

“Many times, out of sympathy, we are compelled to assist them.”

He said the company had requested for some poles because the available poles would not be enough to replace all the bad ones.

He lamented, however, that his main source of concern was that the residents had not observed the right of way.

“People put structures under the lines. In some of the houses, the pole is right inside their premises, and at the end of the day, if anything happens, they will put the blame on JEDC.

“Everybody knows that there’s provision for the right of way; that is five metres right and five metres left away from the pole. But they are not obeying it.

“I decided not to say something like this before because of the loss of lives involved. I am a human being too and I know it can happen to anyone.

“But the fact remains that we must obey standard instructions based on regulations.

“So I want the public to know that we are setting machinery in motion.

“Henceforth, anybody who cannot maintain the standard, we are not going to connect such to electricity, because one person’s life is as important as any other life in the state and the country,” he said.

Life, they say, is a war front. But most people are not involved in the battles until they are old enough to know their right from their left. That, however, is not the case with Mohammed Nasir, a six-month-old baby who fate has already thrown into the vortex of life’s battles.

As an infant, he has not only escaped death by a whisker in an auto crash that claimed his mother’s life, his left arm had to be amputated while he is now enjoying the mercy of a good Samaritan who has volunteered to take over the task of breastfeeding him.

As the end of the recently concluded Ramadan period approached, Nasir’s mother, Jumai Saleh, decided to travel from her base in Wukari, Taraba State to Jalingo, the state capital to seize the opportunity of the public holiday to bring her daughter (Nasir’s elder sister), Naila, back with her for the third term session.

On their way back to Wukari on April 19, however, the vehicle that Jumai boarded with her two children, Naila and Nasir, was involved in a fatal accident around Talla Bridge. Both Jumai and Naila died, leaving Nasir behind with a badly injured arm that was later amputated.

Thus, six-month-old Nasir became a motherless baby with one arm and a burden his bereaved father, Mr Shuaibu Agyo Saleh, would have to contend with. Saleh told our correspondent that each passing day, his mind is crowded with thoughts of his late wife and daughter and the amputation of the left hand of his six-month-old baby who refused to take any other food than breast milk.

“For three weeks after the burial of my wife on the 20th of April, 2022, I could not sleep even for a minute,” Saleh said as he shared his pains with our correspondent at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Jalingo where the latter had gone to investigate a different story before he learnt about the ugly incident.

Saleh said: “What happened was that on Saturday 19th April, 2022, my wife told me that she would be going to Jalingo to bring her children who were on holiday back to Wukari where we are based so that they can resume school for the third term

“My wife was nursing a six-month-old boy, Mohammed Nasir. On their way back, after Talla Bridge, they had an accident which claimed the life of our first daughter.

“The impact of the accident was much and it badly affected the six-month-old boy to the point that his left hand was cut.

“I was informed about what happened and I went to the Talla hospital where all the victims were taken to and I saw my wife sitting outside.

“I decided to take them to Jalingo for better treatment because my daughter sustained serious injuries on the head.

“As we were approaching the hospital, my wife gave up the ghost, leaving behind our six months old boy with just one hand.

“The doctors took the little boy into the hospital and properly amputated his left hand.  But he refused to eat any other food except breast milk while mother was late. It was a Good Samaritan at the hospital who is also a nursing mother that accepted to breastfeed him with her own breast milk.

“That is how Mohammed Nasir is surviving. It is not easy but I have to plead with the woman to continue for the survival of the little boy.

“It is not easy with me. Things are quite difficult. I never expected that my wife would die this early and leave me with the burden of raising a six-month-old boy whose left hand is amputated.

“Sometimes when people come here and see his condition, they extend material assistance to him. That is how he is surviving. I must tell you that life has not been fair to him

“I cannot explain how and why this has happened to me. I’m finding it very difficult to cope and Nasir’s condition has not helped matters; just one hand with much pains.

“I will miss my wife and my first daughter who died in the accident. As we speak, my face is full of tears. I have fainted three times since the incident.

“I still can’t believe the pain of this loss. My heart is broken. I cannot believe that I will never see my wife again. I literally can’t bear it.”

The burden of raising a six-month-old boy with just one hand has fallen on the shoulders of Saleh who, unfortunately, is ill-equipped for the task.

He said with his wife’s demise, he decided to plead with a nursing mother he met at the hospital who gave her breast milk to little Nasir and he embraced it after rejecting the milk he had bought for him from the supermarket.

Asked how the Good Samaritan is able to cope with breastfeeding her baby as well as Nasir, Saleh said she visits the hospital regularly to help breastfeed.

“I thank the woman for accepting that Nasir could suck her breasts. It is not easy for her to breastfeed two children one of whom is not hers. She needs to be appreciated,” he said.

The Good Samaritan woman, who identified herself simply as Mrs Farida, however, said she does not consider herself a stranger in the matter, saying that she is actually related to the late Jumai’s mother and Nasir’s grandmother.

She said: “Well, I’m related to the mother of the late Jumai (Nasir’s grandmother). So, she is my sister and we are all shocked that it happened that way.

The late Jumai was a good sister to all of us, and when her son was not eating, we were all worried and the family decided that since I’m a nursing mother, I should go to the hospital and test him with my breasts to see if he would suck. That was how I came to take care of him

“He is sucking my breasts very well, and I think he is doing fine.

“It is not easy breastfeeding two children, but I don’t have a choice. This is my little way of contributing to his survival.

“History will not forget me, and I’m very sure that wherever my late sister is, she will feel fulfilled that her little son is able to make it in life through my benevolence.

“I’m making this sacrifice to also play a role in the life of Nasir. When he grows up and his story is narrated to him, he will have every reason to appreciate God for sparing his life.

“God has a reason for everything He does. It is not easy losing a mother at this tender age, but it is the will of God and we must all accept it in good faith.

“Nasir is now my adopted child since he is sucking my breasts. He will grow with me and I promise to do my best within our little resources, even though it is not easy due to the difficult nature of things. God is helping us to cater for him.”

At the moment, Saleh is both frustrated and confused as to how he would cope with the pains of losing a wife and a daughter in an accident while his surviving six months old son had his left hand amputated.

“My future looks bleak,” he said.

Farmlands in many Northcentral states have become places for harvesting dead bodies instead of crops. From time to time, fresh or decomposing corpses of farmers allegedly killed by murderous herdsmen litter the farms, scaring others from carrying out their legitimate business. The ugly trend is said to be taking a turn for the worse every passing day following the failure of the relevant authorities to give it the necessary attention, INNOCENT DURU reports.

MRS Miriam Terwase, a native of Tse Aban in Tombo Council Ward, Logo Local Government Area, Benue State, gladly left home on April 29 in the company of her third child to apply herbicide and salvage whatever was left on her groundnut farm.

As they moved around the farm, the young boy plucked edible fruits at intervals, lovingly putting some in his mother’s mouth because she could not hold them with her soiled hands.

“Mummy, please let us also pluck some vegetables so you can make that delicious soup you usually make for us,” the boy requested while the mother nodded with smiles. Elated by the mother’s positive response, he ran to give her a warm hug which, unknown to him, would be his last for the mother.

Towards the end of the herbicide application exercise, a murderous, haggard-looking herdsman appeared from nowhere and attacked Miriam with a sharp knife. Her efforts and the son’s attempts to ward off the assailant failed to save her life and she was heartlessly murdered before her son. Her corpse was later recovered and deposited in the mortuary of NKST Hospital, Anyiin.

“I buried her at the weekend. She was my younger sister,” Miriam’s brother,  Jeyol Jeremiah Hilenen, said as he recalled how his beloved sister was murdered.

Jeyol, a personal aide to the council chairman on security matters, is responsible for mobilising and alerting the joint security operatives in the area on security threats in any part of the local government area. He was also responsible for taking our correspondent round the highly volatile area when he visited.

“She had five children. She was murdered right in front of her third child. The poor boy personally witnessed how his mother was hacked to death.  He tried to help the mother but he was too small to do that. The herder mounted the mother and was stabbing her. The boy took a cutlass and hit the herder on the head.

“The guy rose and moved to also attack the boy and he ran away.  He saw everything. He watched the mother killed by the herder. The boy is highly traumatised now.  He will never forget that experience.

“He is living in an internally displaced persons’ camp now. It is very pathetic. If this is allowed to continue, how are we sure that some of us will still live?”

Apart from the mother of five, two other farmers, according to Jeyol, were also killed in different farms that same day.

Miriam’s case is just one out of the numerous incidents of mindless killing of farmers, male and female, in different parts of Benue and some other Northcentral states.

Across rural farmlands in states like Benue, Plateau, Niger and Kaduna, killer herdsmen are said to have brazenly slaughtered and spilled the blood of harmless farmers. The bestial and barbaric practice, checks revealed, has caused many farmers to flee their farms.

The consequence, according to findings, is yawning food scarcity and famine in most of the communities that hitherto farmed and produced the food eaten not only in the affected communities and their states but across the country.

“Here, it is obvious we are going to have a food crisis,” Iorgba Terkura, a frontline farmer in Logo who had two of his farmer in-laws killed just on Tuesday, said.

“We have a peculiar case here; a case that the federal government is not even helping matters about. People cannot go to their farms. The little that our people have planted they cannot go and harvest.

“Three of the people killed on Tuesday were my in-laws and they were farmers. At times, the herders would stand by the road, catch our women who are going to fish rivers, rape them, collect their money and phone and ask them to go.

“At times, they would beat and wound them. Farms are no-go areas here in Logo.”

Umishi Manasseh, a native of Tombo Ward in Logo, has lost a number of his farmer relations to the inhuman activities of the herders with the latest being that of Tuesday. Manasseh regretted that farmers were leaving the villages in droves to settle in Ayilamo town.

He said: “Coker Dada, a relation of mine and a  farmer, was killed on Tuesday. The rural communities are prone to attacks because there is no security there. The killings have instilled fears in our people.

“I am very annoyed about the killings. It is unfortunate that there is nothing we can do about it. We have no weapons or help from anywhere.

“How can we confront people who are carrying sophisticated weapons?  We are only looking forward to the government for necessary assistance.

“The situation is actually out of hand.”

Aside from Logo, the killer herdsmen, according to findings, have also turned farmlands in other places like Agatu and Guma into slaughter slabs.

A leading farmer and community leader in Agatu, Hon Bawa Haruna, said: The elder brother of the Commissioner for Information was killed on his farm. Two other persons were also killed. Even a woman was among them.

“The woman went to the farm and when the children did not see her around 4 pm, they went searching for her. They later found her body on the farm. She was butchered by herdsmen like an animal for just no reason.

“People were scared of going to the farm within that period because if by late afternoon you are still in the farm, you are a dead person.”

Farmlands as killing fields in Niger, Plateau

The callousness of killer herdsmen in states like Niger and Plateau is said to be unparalleled.

In Niger State, numerous farmers are said to have been killed with some others narrowly escaping with their hands chopped off.

“Life has been challenging since we are not going to farm,” Talati Galadima, a rice and maize farmer based in the Rijau area of Niger State told our correspondent.

She continued: “The bandits have killed many people. And when I say many, I mean uncountable. The attacks are going on in virtually all the farms here in Niger State. I have colleagues that have been killed.

“Banditry is not allowing us to go to the farm. If they meet people on the farm, they will cut their hands and say didn’t they warn them that they should not farm again?

“Last year, some people managed to farm. But when they harvested the crops, the bandits came and burnt everything. They even went to the houses of people who had taken their produce home and burnt them.

“My farmland is five hectares. Many farmers here in Rijau were killed. We went to the farm and saw dead bodies. When we see dead bodies we will run away.

“At times when we are on the farm and we hear that bandits are coming through the neighbouring community, we would quickly leave the farm.

“The bandits kill everybody they come across. They kill females and males including children and adults. They also rape women and steal our goats and cows.

“At times, they would kill our chicken, cook and eat it there. Sometimes, they will ask their captives to cook for them, and after cooking for them, the bandits will seize all their valuables and leave.”

It was also a gale of horrible tales when our correspondent encountered farmers in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State. Majority of the farmers had fled ttheir villages and sought refuge in the towns where they were more or less idle.

Kwa David, a farmer in Pathudu community in Jebu Miango, was close to tears as he shared stories of how his fellow farmers were murdered in cold blood while carrying out their legitimate duties.

He said: “The herders have killed many farmers in our place. They killed some like John and Danladi who were my friends.

“The herders even kill women. I remember they killed Laraba, a relation. She was killed on the farm.

“Such unpleasant development puts fear in our minds and prevents us from going to the farm.”

National Vice President of Irigwe Youth Movement and frontline farmer in Miango District, Mr Ishaya  Mali, was palpably disturbed by the endless killings on their farms when he spoke with the reporter.

He said: “Many of our people have been killed right inside their farms.

“There are fears in our people about going to the farm.

“The herders will come grazing by your side and the next thing, they will kill you and run away.”

Going back memory lane, he said: “A neighbour was harvesting his carrot and moving it to where a car would come and move them to the town.

“When he went back to take the last batch of bags, he met some herders on the farm. They chatted and before he knew it, they killed him and ran away.

“We have people that went for irrigation farming. When one of them was coming out, some herders hiding inside a maize farm where he wanted to go and cultivate attacked and killed him.

“You can go to the farm and on your way home get ambushed and killed.”

The Chairman of Humanitarian Response Team for all the attacks in the area, Gastor Barriet, recalled that the attacks began more than 20 years ago when herdsmen would just enter a community and kill the people.

“But destruction of farms started around 2017 when the attacks took an entirely new dimension,” he said.

By 2018, Gastor said, the attacks peaked, adding: “They entered and chopped down  farms running into several hectares. They would spend a whole night to do that.

“Last year, about 18 communities lost all their farms because the herders entered with their cattle and grazed on all the farmlands.

“It is either they chop the crops down or they use their cattle to graze on the farms.

“They have killed many farmers they met on the farms. They kill farmers both in wet and dry seasons.  They kill males and females alike.

“This has been affecting food supply in our communities.  It has really, really, really affected food supply.

“Like I said earlier, about 18 communities lost all their farmlands when the cattle grazed on them last year. This year, people can no longer go back to those communities to farm.”

Regretting that the menace is worsening food insecurity in the area, he said: “In fact, there is famine in our communities because people could not farm last year, and this year too, most people have not been able to farm.

“Again, when the herders attack, they also burn down food barns and stores. There is famine as I speak to you. People are struggling to feed.

“The herders attacked on Thursday, killing many people. As at this morning (Friday), about seven corpses have been recovered.

“One of the women died in the hospital. I think about two or three people were injured. The herders even called towards this morning that they are coming back in the afternoon.

“We don’t have a government in this country.  The attackers are well armed. Sponsorship is not their problem.

“The least you can do here is to defend yourself. Even if you try to arm yourself, where do you get the guns in large quantities?

“The weapons the herders are using are even more sophisticated than those of our security agencies.”

The Councillor representing Taagbe Ward in  Bassa Local Government Area, Hon. Daro Adams Ruvo, told our correspondent that “farmers in some areas here don’t go to the farm because of the menace of herders.

“I was just coming from Jos now and I saw them on the farms and even around the houses, grazing.

“In a particular village, the herders don’t allow anybody to stay there. They have displaced those farmers now.”

Farmers traumatised by sights of decomposing corpses

Besides the pangs of hunger,  it was learnt that the lives of many farmers have also been made miserable with regular sight of decomposing  corpses they find on their way.

According to Jeyol, “we have at different times seen decomposing bodies of victims on the farms.

“There were killings that were not known until search parties went out and found the decomposing bodies.

“There were people who went to farm without the knowledge of any other person. The herders met them there and murdered them.

“In the course of trying to escape from killer herders, some farmers entered into hidden places where they were eventually killed.

“It is the stench from their decomposing bodies that makes relations or other people to know the exact place a body is.

“Sometimes, the herders will murder people and hide their corpse so that nobody will see their remains.

“There was the case of somebody they murdered, hanged his body on a tree and tied him face down.

“They sharpened a stick and forced it through his anus up to his chest. Look at that kind of wickedness.

“There are many of the farms that you cannot dare go close to.”

Explaining why they are avoiding reprisal attacks against the attackers, Jeyol said: “We don’t really want to take up arms against them.  We have never gunned down any of them.

“We have security agencies with us and they keep warning and urging us to remain calm so that they can focus their attention on the herders.

“If we also start attacking the herders, it will become difficult for them to control the situation.”

In the Bassa area of Plateau State, Kwa David said: “I have seen dead bodies on the farm.

“On one occasion, I heard gunshots and had to leave my house to know what was happening. On getting to the farm, I saw dead bodies. That drove fear into me and made me not to go to the farm again.”

His kinsman, Ishaya, also said: “I have been seeing dead bodies on the farm. I saw about three fresh corpses recently.”

19.4 million people at risk of food crisis – FAO

A report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation early this year warned that about 19.4 million people will face food insecurity across the country between June and August 2022.

The report, processed in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and other stakeholders, analyses acute food and nutrition insecurity in the Sahel and West African region.

The report said the food crisis will affect Nigerians in 21 states and FCT including 416,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

It noted that about 14.4 million people including 385,000 IDPs in 21 states and FCT of Nigeria are already in the food crisis till May 2022.

The analysis for the month of March covered Abia, Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Edo, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Lagos, Niger, Plateau, Sokota, Tarba, Yobe, and Zamfara, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Last year, the FAO estimated that 12.8 million Nigerians will go into famine between June and August 2021.

The report identified insecurity, especially insurgency in the North-east states mostly in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, armed banditry and banditry in some North-west states such as Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna States, as well as North-central states of Benue and Niger as key drivers to the upcoming food crisis.

Also, it said high inflation in soaring food commodity prices, which could be associated with an economic downturn, will contribute to the crisis.

Also, it said high inflation in soaring food commodity prices, which could be associated with an economic downturn, will contribute to the crisis.

“Loss of employment and reduction in household income due to the long-term effect of COVID-19 pandemic and displacement arising from conflict and armed banditry as evident in the crisis-emergency livelihood coping strategies adopted by most households,” it said.

“Among the principal reasons for the increase in the number of people in critical need as against the March, 2021 Cycle could be the objective analysis of inaccessible/hard-to-reach areas (Borno and Adamawa), internally displaced persons (Borno), the increased number of displaced (vulnerable populations) due to banditry, and finally the inclusion of five new states, Contextual Shifts.”

The country representative of FAO, Fred Kafeero, called on the Nigerian government to incorporate the analysis results into national planning, design and implementation of national food systems transformation action plans.

He urged the government to allocate more financial resources to fully support the processes.

Herders’ group condemn killings

The Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN), has condemned the alleged killing of farmers by herders.

The National President, Hon Khalil Mohd Bello, in a telephone chat with The Nation said: “We condemn killing of animals not to talk of human beings.  Killings can occur  at times where  there is a clash between herders and farmers over blockade of grazing or cattle routes.  If the grazing routes are blocked and the herders want to move  from one place to another ,  farmlands can be destroyed in the process.

“Fight used to break out in that process as well. There are occasions where lives are lost in such clashes.  Sincerely speaking, we of Kulen Allah are not in support of such things. That is why  we are appealing to the federal government, most especially the northern governors, to restore grazing reserves and cattle routes. All the grazing reserves have been encroached by farmers.  Those routes lead to where we get feed  and water for our  herds.”

He went on to appeal to herders to live peacefully with their host.  “If for any reason they destroy somebody’s farm, they should pay compensation to the owners for what is destroyed but the compensation should not be exploitative.   We are always warning our farmers  not to destroy people’s farms.  You don’t destroy people’s farms not to talk of killing. No one has the right to  kill. We are always warning our members not to kill anybody or destroy farms.  Anyone who destroys farms intentionally  or kills anybody should be dealt with.  The farmers also must do the needful.  They should not block grazing reserves or cattle routes.”

Efforts to speak with spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, on what they are doing to address the allegation of the farmers were unsuccessful as he neither picked a call nor responded to our text message.