Some ridiculous and dangerous herdsmen in the Niger Delta part of Nigeria have reportedly been collecting money from farmers to access their own farmlands without harm.
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The Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, has lamented the incursion of herdsmen into the state.
The governor made this known on Friday while receiving the Assistant Inspector General in charge of Zone 5, Rasheed Akintunde in Delta.
Akintunde was on a familiarisation tour of the state police command.
Okowa disclosed that some communities in Uwheru, Ughelli North LGA of the state had been completely taken over by herdsmen who now allegedly charge fees before the community members can access their farms.
He said the safety of the residents of the three affected communities was threatened by the incursion of the herdsmen.
The governor said, “There is a particular community in Delta State, at a point in time, we discussed it at security council meeting and just yesterday (Thursday) while I was in Ughelli North for my regular Town Hall meeting, the people raised a very serious issue about the Uwheru community.
“It is a very pathetic situation, because the President-General of the community spoke on the fact that out of seven communities, three of them are actually occupied by the herdsmen and the farmers are told that they must pay the herdsmen before they can enter their farms and that is very disturbing because it is strange for indigenes to pay money before they can enter their farms and I believe something has to be done before it evolves into a crisis situation.
“And this has been going on for several years but it has gotten worse of recent. So, AIG, this situation has to be addressed immediately as security issue.”
Okowa maintained that only the synergy between the different security agencies in Delta had kept the state safe so far.