‘Save us from incessant herders attacks’ — Ogbomoso farmers appeal to Soun [PHOTOS]

Farmers from Oriire Local Government in the Ogbomoso geo-political zone of Oyo State have cried out over what they described as incessant attacks on their farms.

They made the declaration when scores of farmers staged a protest at the palace of the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Afolabi Ghandi Olaoye, on Thursday.

The farmers appealed to the traditional ruler and other stakeholders to save them from incessant attacks on their farms.

The spokesman for the protesters, Chief Aremu Ogundare, who doubled as the head of Kedo Arigbeyo, said that the protesters came from three villages in Oriire Local Government, namely Kedo Arigbeyo, Kedo Salami, and Mosunmaje.

He lamented that they had to come to the palace to solicit the assistance of the monarch because the herders persisted in their destructive activities.

He said: “Cows have become a menace to us; the problem escalated about four or five years ago. We don’t enjoy farming any longer; all the cassava we cultivated were destroyed by them, and no one has any cassava on the farm again.

“Then, the cashew farms we thought of falling back on, they would take their cows there in the night to eat them off. To feed our families now is hard; we can’t train our children in school, and those in higher institutions have returned because we couldn’t raise funds to sponsor them any longer. Feeding is also a problem. That’s the reason we came here with a save-our-soul message.

“We discussed it several times; we were at the police station; we reported to the local government chairman; none yielded any solution. They persisted. They macheted us, and oftentimes they would kill anyone who resisted them. Women can’t go to the farm any longer; even we men venture out in fear, out of compunction, because we must feed our families.

“We are fed up; we are helpless; that’s the reason we have come to seek the assistance of our royal father.”