The rampaging action of the Fulani herdsmen is taking a worrisome dimension across the country. While other state governors are condemning the act, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state had kept mute over the matter for almost a year. In this report, Austin Oyibode of NAIJ.com examines the implication of Governor's Okowa silence, his immediate outburst of emotions and the harm the people of Delta have suffered.
After series of killings and sending farmers packing from their farms across various communities, Delta state government has finally spoken, voicing its annoyance on the killing of Delta people and the worrisome silence of the federal government to the disturbing actions of the Fulani herdsmen in the state.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and members of his cabinet have, for over a year, kept mute over the killings of Delta people by the Fulani herdsmen, even while a committee established by the same government to check the menace and the people of the state spoke against the activities of the herdsmen, calling for their ejection from the state, Okowa reportedly supported the argument of the herdsmen at the detriment of his people.
This is even as his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart in Ekiti state, Governor Ayo Fayose, spoke against the activities of the Fulani herdsmen and called for their extrication from the state. In all the matters as concerns Fulani herdsmen, Fayose has consistently stood with his people and defended them in all issues.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Speaker Monday Igbuya and Commissioner for Information, Patrick Ukah are lamenting the plight of Deltans as Fulani herdsmen raid and massacre farmers
But Okowa in Delta defended his silence on the Nigerian constitution which he says allows all Nigerians to live in any part of the country undisturbed, insisting that the killings were not limited to Delta state, hence he drowned the voice of his people and danced to the tune of the Fulani herdsmen, thereby allegedly authorizing them to stay in the state and carry out their heinous crimes without hindrance.
But it has dawned on the governor that his silence was doing his people harm rather than good. This is following the incessant killings, maiming and sacking of farms by the Fulani herdsmen across the state. Communities like Abraka in Ethiope east local government area, most communities in Ndokwa, communities in Ughelli North and others have reportedly felt the pangs of the Fulani herdsmen in the state.
There have been killings, bloodbath, clashes and sacking of farm holdings by the Fulani herdsmen in various parts of the state. Women have protested on several occasions in Ndokwa and Ughelli area, youths have joined battle with them in Abraka and now there is fear in the hearts of the farmers over the unexpected happening should they go to their farms.
This has led to food scarcity, a development which has fueled the rise of food prices and making it hardly available in local markets for the consumption of the locals. Most of their farms have been destroyed as the Fulani herdsmen grazed and the farmers fear questioning the audacity of the herdsmen as they menacingly consume their crops with their cattle even in their presence.
Okowa, at the 25th coronation anniversary of the Ovie of Ughelli, went wild against the Fulani herdsmen, noting that the silence of the federal government was a bad omen and unacceptable to the state. He said the federal government needed to introduce policies and steps to bring the herdsmen to order and usher in needed peace and sanity to the state.
At the event, Governor Okowa told the people that the herdsmen challenge was national, he, however, said it has become imperative for the federal government to fashion out quick policies to save the lives of dying Nigerians. He said the federal government should initiate a policy directive to reduce the clashes and make people live without fear in their
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