NIGERIA : Soldiers Harass Residents For Rejecting Herders In Ogun State

Residents of Ketu-speaking villages in Yewa North Local Government Area, Ogun State were intimidated by soldiers who escorted herdsmen to graze in the communities. The Fulani Herdsmen crisis remains a major problem in Nigeria.<br /><br />The commotion has forced traditional rulers in the affected communities to write a save-our-soul petition to the Nigerian Army authorities demanding protection from the harassment of soldiers and herdsmen.<br />According to The Nation, one of the victims is Seye Mulero, who was severely injured in Ubeku village in Yewa North and is currently receiving medical treatment.<br /><br />The herdsmen, who had left the village after the villagers rejected their continued presence, suddenly resurfaced at about 2 pm on December 19, 2020, with a handful of soldiers from the 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta.<br /><br />The soldiers headed straight for the palace of the community’s traditional ruler, Chief Olaleye Adigun, calling out the villagers and warning them against preventing the evicted herdsmen from returning to the village.<br /><br />In the middle of this strange encounter, Mulero told the soldiers that the herders would not be allowed to remain in the community because of their brutal killing of residents and the destruction of their farmlands in recent times.<br /><br />Mulero said, “Everyone was frightened by the action and utterances of the soldiers, but I summoned the courage to tell them how a Geography teacher Mr. Yomi Akinola and two students of Community High School, Ibeku, among others, were killed by the herdsmen while our women were raped and killed on their ways to the farm.”<br /><br />But Mulero and Ubeku village were not the only person and area that tasted the bile of the soldiers who escorted the herdsmen in a military patrol van from one village to another. Innocent indigenes of Iselu, Ibeku, Agbon-Ojodu, Asa and other villages were also harassed and assaulted by the soldiers at the instance of the herdsmen.<br /><br /><br /><br />After leaving Ubeku, the