The relative peace in Sapele area of Delta State was interrupted on Monday with tension in the air when Hausa traders and Fulani herders engaged in a bloody fight, leaving at least 10 persons injured.
It was learnt that the incident
occurred at the Hausa Market along the Benin – Warri Road, Amukpe, Sapele.
It was further gathered that many
lives would have been lost if the police had not responded promptly as the
squad led by Harrison Nwaboisi; a Chief Superintendent of Police stormed the
scene to stop the fight and brought the situation to normalcy. However, the
herders were said to have caused a lot of damage before the arrival of the
police.
According to an eyewitness, the
clash was triggered by the killing of a Hausa boy from Nassarawa who was
stabbed on Sunday night when he visited the camp of some Fulani herders close
to the market.
It was further learnt that the
Hausas, especially those from Nassarawa mobilised and attacked the herders’
settlements in the bush on Monday morning.
The Fulanis responded to the
attack by fighting back, resulting in a battle that got people who neither
Hausa nor Fulani are running for their lives.
Ibrahim Umoru, one of the traders
in the market said the crisis started after a Hausa boy was stabbed by a Fulani
man because he was found around their camp.
“Maybe he thought the boy came to
steal from them, he did not ask why he was there, before attacking him”. Said
Umoru.
“The matter came to us this
morning and we can’t just sit down and watch them attack us every time, we want
to tell them we are not fools,” he said.
A Fulani herdsman, blamed the
Hausas for the fight adding that they were peace-loving people.
Anti-Grazing Policy: Lawmakers recess may stall effective take off in
some states
Another report says in spite of the seriousness and
urgency attached by some Southern States’ Legislative Assembly to the decision
of Southern governors to come up with Anti-0pen Grazing Law effective September
1, 2021, some of the states are still far from complying with the executive
decision.
States like Delta and Lagos top
the list of states where the legislators have chosen to proceed on their annual
recess unmindful of the determination of their Governors to implement the
decision accordingly.
Ondo State Governor Arakunrin
Oluwarotimi Akeredolu who is the Chairman of the Southern States Governors
forum on Tuesday 31st August, 2021 assented to the Bill already passed into Law
by the State House of Assembly.
Out of the. Seventeen Southern
States, a good number of the states are still far from concluding the
legislative processes leading to passage of the Bill into law.
The Chairman, Lagos State House
of Assembly Committee on Information, Hon. Setonji David told our Correspondent
on phone on Tuesday night that the Executive Governor of the State had
presented the Bill for debate and subsequent passage into law but that it came
while the lawmakers had already proceeded on their annual vacation.
According to him, the law makers
on return from recess would surely give the Bill a speedy attention just as he
added that the September 1 deadline was the making of the media. He however
agreed that the month of September is the deadline for the various states
towards having an Anti-Open Grazing Law in place.
Mr. Dennis Otu, Press Secretary
to Delta State House of Assembly Speaker said the Lawmakers were on vacation
and he was not in a position to comment. He referred our correspondent to the
House Committee Chairman on Information. However, effort to reach him as at
press time was unsuccessful.
Prior to their vacation, Delta
Lawmakers had worked on the Bill up to the Second Reading Stage with so much
enthusiasm. It is however feared that the long stay on vacation may whittle
down the seriousness with which the Governors had intended to tackle the menace
of cattle rearers who audaciously destroy farm crops in manners that have often
stoked violence between the herders and farmers.
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