Mazino Obaro Ikime
On Thursday I was at poultry market in Ibadan. I came upon an elderly man loading up on feed for his birds.
I asked him where his farm was. He told me it was in Iganna, which is in Oke Ogun,which is in Oyo State. I asked him how business was going. He said capital was his greatest challenge and that he was lucky because he inherited a significant portion of land from his dad, years ago and had, over the years,developed and secured it. He then told me that this part of the state,that is the Oke Ogun area was under persistent attack by Herdsmen.
Women are raped on a weekly basis, men are attacked and when they are not killed they are maimed. Fingers, hand, ears and so forth loped off. I asked how he knew they were Herdsmen. He told me that they had accommodated them in the district for years. But now it seemed a spirit of entitlement had set in and that the Serikin Fulani, commanded as much authority as any Yoruba monarch in the area.
While most are focused on the antics of these people in the Middle Belt area of the country. A systematic annihilation of some people in the South West is taking place. He told me that there was a steady influx into the area and that there was a palpable fear that their numbers would soon exceed those of the indigenous people. I took that to be an exaggeration,but recognized it for what it was. A fear of being overrun,by strangers that they had haboured.
Most of the recent entrants to the area, did not rent accommodation,but camped in the bush. But of course since they were of the same occupation as those who had been in residence in the Oke Ogun area for years,there was a synergy between them as kindred folk.
He claimed that they were always heavily armed and a show of force was very much in evidence. The cases that had been reported to the Police, were, he claimed poorly handled. Where arrests were made,within a short while these elements were out on bail.
He also made a claim that I found particularly worrisome. One,that the Monarchs and leaders were in the habit of selling land to these people without recourse to due process . At first it was not viewed with any suspicion but access to land had led to the encroachment. Where that was resisted,deadly force was deployed against those who dared to oppose. In the course of his narrative, Baba persisted in using the term STRANGERS to describe these people.
At some point, I asked him why he kept using the term STRANGERS, when he himself had said that these folk had lived amongst them for years. I used myself as an example. I told him I had lived in Ibadan all my life and would be upset if I was referred to as a Stranger. Baba asked me if I had engaged in desecrating the land, if I had raped Ibadan women or burnt the properties of those who had received me in good faith. I answered in the negative.
He then went on to say that when people whom you had welcomed,been hospitable to suddenly turned on you, you could no longer see them as brethren. His position was that only stranger elements and enemies would behave in that manner. I found it difficult to fault his logic.
The other worrisome thing he spoke of was how the Monarchs were engaging in intermarriages with these people. I told him it was to be expected. But he countered by saying it was strategic and the only means through which the Monarchs could avert attack on their persons and assets. In essence the fear of the Herdsmen had become the beginning of wisdom.
A few years ago, I heard about this Oke Ogun thing. I tried to do a little research,but I noticed wariness on the part of the people in the communities I visited. In those years, I was still gung ho about Conflict Management. The situation has deteriorated. The people are becoming increasingly restive. Something really needs to be done for these people. It is a dreadful thing to live in fear In your own land.
I broached the topic of Amotekun with Baba. He was not very optimistic. His reasoning was that legislation had restricted Amotekun particularly in the nature of arms they could bear and that the Herdsmen were not under that type of encumbrance. In addition, they were not bound by any rules of engagement nor do they recognize any conventions. Any and everything was fair game.
I really had no reason to doubt Baba. His response to me was spontaneous, full of both pain and alarm at what had become of his homestead. I don’t know how much representation of this has been made of this to the state government. Neither do I know when the breaking point will be reached. What is sure is that there is clearly defined flashpoint in Oke Ogun.
Written by: Mazino Obaro Ikime
