Tension and protest, greeted the arrival and settlement of
over 200 herdsmen and their cows at Agu Obodo, Obeagwu Ozalla in Nkanu West
Local Government Area of Enugu State.
The protesting community members said they were overwhelmed
by over five trucks that off-loaded the herdsmen, their families and cows in
the community and is asking the herdsmen to leave their land within three days
as their people can no longer go to their farms. President-General of Ozalla
Development Union, ODU, Chief Afam Ani, who led the protesting women, youths
and traditional rulers, said the herdsmen’s arrival, weekend, caused
considerable anxiety and panic in the town, with his people living nearest to
farm settlements abandoning their farms and dwellings and taking refuge in
other parts of the town. Ani narrated to newsmen that the herdsmen claimed they
were evicted from their previous settlements at Maryland in Enugu South Local
Government Area and decided to resettle in Ozalla. He said they had informed
security agencies, the local and state governments to help them evict the
herdsmen, citing an ugly experience the community had with the herdsmen in
2012, when they attacked, raped and destroyed properties in the community. The
President-General disclosed that the herdsmen agreed to vacate the community
within three days, but that he is pleading with the security agencies to help
enforce the agreement. A traditional ruler of one of the autonomous communities
in Ozalla, Igwe C. O. Okafor, described the development as embarrassing, adding
that they were not consulted by either the herdsmen or by any proxy before the
invasion.
Source:Vanguard Ngr
Source:Vanguard Ngr
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