Okowa: My people now pay herdsmen money to access farms

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Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, yesterday lamented how the people of Uwheru community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state were paying toll fees to herdsmen before they were allowed to gain access to their farmlands.

The governor said it was disturbing for indigenes to pay money to non-indigenes over their land before they can farm, calling on security agencies in the state to stop herdsmen menace before it assumed a dangerous dimension.

The governor expressed his displeasure to the Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) in charge of Zone 5, Benin, Edo State, Mr. Rasheed Akintunde, when he visited him in Asaba, saying that the situation in Uwheru had become pathetic.

He said the menace had been on for several years, but that the new twist had become worse, hence the Federal Government should take a decisive action on them.

 

Okowa said: “There is a particular community in Delta State. We discussed it at security council meeting, and just yesterday while I was in Ughelli North for my regular Town Hall meeting, the people raised a very serious issue about the Uwheru community.

“It is a very pathetic situation, because the President-General of the community spoke about the fact that out of seven communities, three are actually occupied by herdsmen and that the farmers were told that they must pay the herdsmen before they can enter their farmlands and that is very disturbing, because it is strange for indigenes to pay money before they can enter their farms. Something has to be done urgently before it evolves into a crisis,” the governor said.

The AIG told the governor that he was on a familiarisation tour of police formations under his beat, commending the governor for his numerous supports to the police command in the state. Governor Okowa maintained that police and other security agencies must strive to protect live and property.

He said there were lots of collaborations between different security agencies and the state’s advisory and peace building council, which he said had assisted in intelligence gathering and made the state an investors’ destination.

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