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By Young Erhiurhoro, Warri
The entire Agadama community in Uwheru kingdom, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, was few days ago thrown into mourning as a young woman, whose name was given as Mrs. Catherine Useh, died while fleeing from the alleged Fulani herdsmen terrorizing them in their farms.
Narrating the sad story to our correspondent who visited the community a day after the incidence, an eye witness who spoke in anonymity said, “It was a terrible situation with us here. All of us went to farms together. So many of us have cassava and sweet potatoes farms in the area. The problem of the Fulani herdsmen to us is becoming worrisome and unbearable to us now. They forcefully take from us our food, water and even money that we usually carry to the farms. By the time we want to resist, they usually resort to violence against us. They sometimes rape us and our daughters in the farms. This is exactly the situation of the entire community.”
The woman whose face was covered with tears said, “So as we heard that the Fulani herdsmen were pursuing farmers from the other end of the large farmland, people started running including the late woman. It was a very long distance from the farm to the community. So we were surprised as we got the news that after entering the outskirts of the community, she suddenly fell down and died on the spot. We saw the corpse on the ground and all of us were aching seriously.”
Speaking in the same vein, a woman leader in the community who also refused to disclosed her name said, “We don’t know what the Delta State government and the Federal Government are telling us, the indigenes and residents of this community, over this Fulani herdsmen attacks and acts of terrorism on us. It’s like the government is telling us to pack from the community for the Fulani herdsmen to fully settle here. The Fulani herdsmen have been killing our children, raping us and our daughters and doing other uncountable atrocities to us every year, yet the Delta State government and the Federal Government sealed their mouths. At the end, they (government) will send us used clothes, few Idomie noodles and four or five bags of rice as support and compensation for victims.
“In fact, this is not what Agadama community needs at this time. We want the government to completely evacuate these evil people and criminals from our land. Their plans are not more hidden to us. They want to exterminate us and fully settle here. Government should come to our aid now,” she said.
However, the corpse of the late woman has since been deposited in the morgue. All efforts to speak to members of the bereaved family as at the time of filing this report proved abortive as many of them were still wailing bitterly.
