By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN—TRA-DITIONAL rulers in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State, led by the Otaru of Igarra, Oba Emmanuel Saiki, have appealed to the federal and state governments to rescue the community from incessant attacks by Fulani herdsmen, calling for the deployment of soldiers in the area.

They lamented that their women were being raped everyday in their farms, adding that farming which is their major occupation, is being threatened because people no longer go to farms due to fear of being killed.

 Herdsmen attending to their cows

Oba Saiki said: “As a citizen, as a king, I have never witnessed this kind of insecurity in this area before. Every other day, every week, all around this local government and environs, herdsmen and their cohorts are kidnapping our people and raping our women.

“They rape our girls and women in the farms, rob them even as they destroy our crops with their activities. We are just coming from an emergency meeting of Akoko-Edo Traditional Council. And the emergency meeting was caused by the latest onslaught of suspected Fulani herdsmen on Egbigere, Ikpeshi, Okpe and Enwan communities in which a driver of a school bus was killed and a Pastor, an unsuspecting woman and school children were kidnapped.”

“I will like to commend the efforts of our hunters and vigilante groups. They pursued the invading armed robbers, caught them and brought them to the Police.
“As it is now, many of the labourers and miners who are from the neighouring A tte village did not come to work because everybody is scared now and that has crippled the economy if this place.

“People are afraid due to the lasts attacks. I will appeal to both state and federal governments to deploy soldiers here to protect us because we have no other occupation than farming,” he stated.