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| Armed Fulani Herdsmen |
Ibadan—AS controversy to find
grazing reserves for Fulani herdsmen across the country continues, some
hoodlums, including herdsmen, on Tuesday night, invaded a farm belonging to a
former Secretary to the Oyo State Government, Mr. Ayodele Adigun and forced settlers
in the place to flee their residence.
According to sources, the invaders stormed the
farm settlement at Lagun, in Lagelu Local Government area of the state around
9pm with dangerous weapons. According to eyewitnesses, the intruders were not
only Fulani herdsmen as some of them reportedly spoke in pidgin English, Fulani
and Yoruba. Vanguard learned that the suspects numbering about 20 were armed
with AK-47 rifles and other dangerous weapons. Two of the residents, Haruna
Usman and Olanipekun Ogunkolade said the hoodlums had two sophisticated guns
each while robbing them of their valuables. They said items such as phones,
money, shoes and foodstuffs were carted away by the intruders. One of the
victims, Mr Jimmy Adedokun who sustained gunshot injuries on his hands and legs
was admitted at a hospital in Iwo, Osun State. Narrating the attack, Ogunkolade
said “when they arrived at 9pm yesterday night (Tuesday), they ransacked
everywhere and shot Jimmy after dispossessing him of his weapons. They took
garri from us, and drank it. One of us just prepared a fish soup and eba but
the invaders ate everything.” The farm manager, Mr. Emmanuel said the incident
was the first occurrence since they settled on the farm settlement. When asked
who the suspects could be, he said, “we suspected that the invaders are Fulani
herdsmen because they wore shoes like herdsmen and they spoke Fulani and pidgin
English. Earlier in the day, they had mounted roadblocks at Lagun on Ibadan –
Iwo Road. We learnt that they robbed the road users early in the morning and at
night. We sighted over 50 Fulani herdsmen moving from one community to another
in this place on the grounds that they wanted to buy Indian hemp.” The owner of
the farm, Mr. Adigun said residents of the settlement had run for dear life and
had relocated to another place noting that “to me, the invasion of the farm was
a ploy to permanently sack the farmers from the community so that they could
take over and use the farm as grazing field
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