The people of Awgu, under Awgu Egbeleli Development Union (AEDU), have sent a Save Our Soul (SOS) to President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, to rescue them from the killer herdsmen who allegedly invaded their villages.

Already, the invaders had, according to the people, killed two people, injured many, burnt motorcycles and bicycles the people went to farm with and harvested their crops with a stern warning that the villagers should not return to their farms.

Disclosing this to newsmen at a press conference, yesterday, in Awgu, the President General of AEDU, Prof. Reko Okoye, who alongside the President, Awgu Town Youth Association, Oba John Nwankwo, and the village heads briefed newsmen on the development in their town, said they were calling on the federal and state governments because they do not want to take the laws into their hands.

He lamented that their people could not go to their farms again, due to fear of molestation and attack by the herders who waylay their women in the farm, rape them, lay ambush on their people, kidnap them and demand ransoms.

Okoye appealed to the governments to intervene quickly before the killer herdsmen would sack them from their homes. He said the situation has become so bad that the people could no longer gather for meetings in their villages because, if they do, the herders would come and scatter them.

The PG said the incident was appropriately reported to the police, the Commissioner of Police, the Directorate of Security Services (DSS) and other security agencies in the state.

The Youth President, Nwankwo, in his contribution said: “On February 17 and 18, those days were blackout for Awgu Egbeleli in general, especially in Olori, Obovia and Amaovia. We got the information about Fulani herdsmen, how they attacked our women, our youths and our men on our farmlands. They took over everywhere, you know in Awgu Egbeleli, we are farmers, we base on agriculture, we do farm work and from there, we feed our families and train our children.

“So, since then to today, nobody is going to the farm again, nothing is happening here today, hunger everywhere. We are sad that Fulani herdsmen came and took over lands from us. So we are calling on the federal government, President Muhammadu Buhari, to come to our aid, and our state governor, Ugwuanyi, to come to our aid, because it is getting too much; killings everywhere everyday, we are not happy. We are calling on them, including the local government, to come and act because it is getting too much. We are law abiding citizens, we don’t want to take the laws into our hands. So we are calling on the federal government to come and rescue our people.”

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe (DSP), could not come up with his reaction before press time as he had promised, when Daily Sun contacted him for the information on the incident.

(Daily Sun)

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