Following the alarming state of insecurity in the country, the traditional ruler of Abavo Kingdom, in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, Obi Uche Irenuma II, has raised an alarm over the invasion of his kingdom by persons suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.
The monarch announced that two of his subjects had been kidnapped along the Obianyima-Okpe Road.
The monarch explained that yam barns owned by his subjects had been destroyed by the invaders.
“As a result of the herders’ menace, my subjects have abandoned their farms for fear of being kidnapped, killed, or raped…To forestall breakdown of law and order in the community, a stakeholders’ meeting was held at my palace sometime ago where it was agreed that peace and order should reign between the herders and the host community.” Obi Irenuma II said.
The traditional ruler pointed out that earlier engagement with the Fulani herdsmen had yielded no results adding that their activities had caused security breach in the community…
“At the stakeholders’ meeting, attended by the police, the DSS, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Non-Indigenes, Alhaji Murkta; the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Security Matters, the leader of the Miyetti Allah in Ika South and Ika North East and the Ika South council chairman, the herders pledged to be of good conduct.”
This is the sequel to the recent wave of attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen, including the murder of one middle-aged man identified as Ifeanyi as well as the kidnapping of Deborah Williams and Peter Egbuche.
The herdsmen had kidnapped Deborah Williams, the 13-year-old student of Grace Favour Montessori School, on Wednesday, February 4, 2020, and demanded N10 million ransom initially but later reduced it to N2 million.
Irenuma said a state of emergency should be declared in Abavo following the terror that was being unleashed on the people by Fulani herdsmen. He, therefore, appealed to the state government, the police and other security agencies to quickly intervene to avert a breakdown of law and order in the agrarian community as the whereabouts of the two missing indigenes of the kingdom was still unknown.
Herdsmen activities in Delta state dates back years affecting communities like Ubulu-Uku, Isele-Uku, Onicha-Olona, Onicha-Ugbo and environs, all agrarian communities in Aniocha and Oshimili local government areas of the state.
It can be recalled that the Fulani Nationality Movement, had claimed that the Fulanis owned all the lands in the country and gave notice of a planned conquest of the entire territory.
As it is now custom, the federal government remains silent.
