HumAngle
Mulero Asani sat quietly under a tree when this reporter visited Asa, one of the communities recently affected by bloody farmers-herders conflicts in the Yewa axis of Ogun State. Apparently tired, her brown skin appeared grey and her face was gaunt.
Upon seeing our reporter, her eyes fell, expecting to hear gunshots. Her experience with the herders who invaded Asa community on Feb. 14 left her depressed as she continued to live in panic.
“I have been in Asa for over 40 years, carrying out my farming business,” she said. “This community also hosts some Fulani herders who for years did not put our mind to rest. They allow their cattle to eat our farms and they fight us anytime we confront them. There have been a series of killings and kidnappings on farms but we kept enduring.”
She told HumAngle that despite efforts to attract government attention at the early stage of the brutal killings in their community, authorities did not attend to their plights. The crisis which started slowly later developed into reprisal killings in many communities in Yewa, Southwest Nigeria.
Residents say the last four years have been marred with the invasions of farmlands by armed herders who often attack at night. Some of the communities affected in the area are Oja-Odan, Asa, Ebute-Igbooro, Owode-Ketu, Imeko, Egua, Ijoun, and Agbon-Ojodu.
HumAngle earlier reported how killings and reprisal have remained persistent in the communities. The recent escalation has, however, forced many villagers to take refuge in the neighbouring Benin Republic.
“The Fulanis came at midnight. They were shooting sporadically and burnt many houses in Asa. People were burnt in their houses but lucky families escaped. We ran to the Benin Republic for safety. If not for Benin Republic authorities, the Fulanis would have succeeded in ruining the entire Yewa land,” Asani recounted.
The journey to Benin
Like Asa, residents of other affected communities like Oja-Odan, Ebute-Igbooro, Owode-Ketu, Imeko, Egua, Ijoun, and Agbon-Ojodu also left their homes for the neighbouring country for safety. Mostly without food and water, they trekked for days during the life-threatening journey.
Oluyeni Rita, a petty trader, narrated a sorrowful tale of how her husband, a farmer, was killed. “I wonder how I survived the perilous journey from Egua in Yewa to Eguelou in the Benin Republic. I feel bad anytime I remember the criminal activities of the Fulanis. My husband was burnt in the house and could not recover anything,” she said.
“I joined others running for safety and I have not returned to Nigeria since February. Till today, the memories of my journey to this place linger in my head. Leaving Nigeria to find solace in the Benin Republic was the best decision in the face of killings.”
Many told HumAngle they were escorted out of Nigeria to the neighbouring country by Benin’s Republican Police whose officers assured them of safety and took them to their station in Igana.
Amidst all of these, the Nigerian government had wrongly claimed in early March that no citizen of Ogun State was displaced. The Director of the Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bolaji Akinremi, said, “Our mission visited the villages mentioned and met with rulers, but was told that those who came as a result of the crisis had returned after a few days.”
This version of the events was debunked by the Nigerian Red Cross Society in late March. An official of the humanitarian group, Oluwole Aboyade, noted that “it is just unfortunate that the government knows the truth but is trying to play politics with human lives. Anybody can go to Benin Republic, we have been there to give them [displaced Ogun people] clothes, and other essentials.”
“We have been to the palace of the king of Eguelou in Benin Republic. We met with the councillor of Iganna in Benin Republic. These are the people who accommodated the refugees. Our Nigerian citizens are there sleeping in mosques, public areas and other places. They were displaced by Fulani herdsmen and there is no food for them and all their means of livelihood have been lost but, in the Benin Republic, they gave them food for a limited period of time thinking that the Nigerian government will come to their aid,” Aboyade said.
Also, a publication of the communal communication unit of the Francophone country, PANA, revealed that 4,477 people, displaced by Nigeria’s communal violence, arrived in a border community located about 100 km from Cotonou, Benin Republic. The mayor, Adebayo Simon Dina, said the people, 2,163 men and 2,314 women, took refuge in the various communities in the Benin Republic.
Dina said they were welcomed by the authorities who assured them of the arrangements made for their safety and offered them better living conditions.
HumAngle visited the neighbouring country last week on a fact-finding mission and our findings revealed the kindness bestowed on displaced Nigerians by the host communities.
‘Extraordinary kindness’
The road to Eguelou in the Benin Republic was bumpy and dusty. It looked like a metaphorical graveyard with no sight of human habitation. After over two hours on a motorcycle, our reporter saw an iron bar that demarcates the unmanned border between Nigeria and the Francophone country.
Oladekan Ruth, one of the women displaced from Asa, sat hopelessly with pap leaves used to wrap food in her hands. The leaves in Nigeria are used for boiling food such as beans pudding (moi-moi) and beans (adalu), and for wrapping food such as locust beans (iru), ofada rice, pounded yam (iyan), ekuru (beans pudding without pepper), pap (eko), and so on.
For Ruth, the future is unknown. She shared her willingness to return to Asa but was scared that the armed herders could raid her house again. She has started making pap for sale with the support of locals in her ‘new home’.
“I fled Asa village to Eguelou after the Feb. 14 attack and I have since been living here. Even if I want to go back, I have no place to stay because my house was burnt down. The government of Benin Republic accepted us and told their people to accommodate. They gave us food and even provided clothes for us. This is the only place I feel safe,” she said.
“We kept running and many children got injured. Some people forgot their children and it took them days to find them. More than 2,000 people were accommodated in Eguelou and many others in Igana. People were sleeping in mosques and churches.”
Read the full story in HumAngle
