‘How Fulani herdsmen made me dump my vibrant Agric busines’

Straight to the point, I was a victim of the herders as far back as 1986 on my 25 acre  farm at Ipapo near Iseyin. Ij borrowed money from Nig. Agricultural and Cooperative Bank, Orita Mefa, Ibadan and cultivated 20 acres for maize, 4 acres for Cassava. Two weeks to my harvesting,  they herded their cows and finished every corn(improved seedlings from Leventis then) planted with combined planter which was dropping fertiliser beside the two or three seeds planted then. The corn seeds were beautiful and each stalk had 2 or 3 cubs. They finished everything, and moved to the next farm where unfortunately the owner was resident there. The man shot into the air and when the cows refused to leave his farm, he  shot and killed a cow. Look at the two scenarios:-

1. Out of the herdsmen that came to my farm, one person was arrested by the police and I was invited. I gave the police money for the prisoner's upkeep & feeding  for a week pending his been arraigned in court soonest. To my utter dismay, the police told me the man was sick and they had to release him on the third day to the Seriki Fulani of Iseyin so that he will not die in their custody. I asked them why? They said from their interrogation  the man told them then that he was only employed three days to that fateful day at Kishi in Oyo State (North of Iseyin) and did not know who the real owner of the cattle was.  That was the end of the story. I had to find means of refunding the Agric loan got from NACB, Orita mefa Ibadan. I never went back to farming again despite the fact that from the gains I made the previous year, I was able to buy a 2nd hand Peugeot 404 pick -up then for N6000 only.

2. The man( my neighbour on the farm) who had the effontry to kill one cow was asked to be prosecuted from Dodan Barracks then and he was made to pay for 10 cows or go to prison for six months. He found money and paid for cows that did havoc on his farm having killed just one of them.

Brethren that was the last time I showed up on the 25 acre farm till date

If I have to support Sunday Igboho for my children and grandchildren to enjoy their lives in future, I will gladly do so.

 

 

Ven Engr Oluseye Ogunrinde