Several times a week, Mercy Egbine goes to her ‘factory’ situated a few yards from her home in Uwheru Town, an Urhobo community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State. Her ground nut processing, small scale enterprise is however, not like a typical factory with modern and sophisticated cutting edge machinery that churn out products at a rapid pace daily.
It’s a simple structure roofed with aluminium with a circular shaped clay fired oven at a corner. Placed on top of this is an iron grill like the type used in barbeques. From this simple looking place, just like many others in Uwheru, is produced some of the most delicious ground nuts not just in Delta State but in the Niger Delta region and beyond.
The special flavour of Uwheru’s ground nut produced in Egbine’s place and the over one hundred other ovens in the community, has made the town famous in the region, with many buyers trooping to the community to purchase it in great quantities.
“Our ground nut is very popular,” Egbine, declared, a note of pride in her voice. “It tastes different from other ground nuts. That’s why buyers come from different and far places to our town to buy it. They are mostly business people and middlemen who buy in large quantity, then distribute to the traders in towns and cities nationwide,” she added.
She’s not the only resident of the town who is in the business of ground nut production. Findings show that ground nut cultivation and processing is more or less a family tradition in Uwheru, which is passed down from one generation to the next. “It’s a generational thing,” stated Comrade Solomon Kikor, a young farmer and indigene of Uwheru. “I learnt it from my father who was taught by his own father and so on. There’s nobody in this community who is not involved in the groundnut business either as a farmer, processor or trader. It’s our heritage,” he said with a smile.
A threatened heritage and centuries old business
From all indications, this heritage of the people of Uwheru might soon be lost, due to circumstances almost beyond their control. For many years, this mostly agrarian and fishing community has had its peace shattered and lives and livelihoods destroyed by the nefarious activities of Fulani herdsmen. These migrant herders with their straggly and mangy collection of cattle, have turned this peaceful community to their playground and feeding and killing field, leaving deaths, rapes, torture, pains and suffering behind.
The climax of these deadly herders assault on Uwheru were the incidents of February 2020 that left ten indigenes of the kingdom dead while many were injured. Out of the ten victims, two were killed in Avwon, a village in the kingdom, and seven died during an attack on Agadama, another community in Uwheru.
Today, all that’s left as a reminder of that unprovoked and brutal assault on Uwheru are ten marked graves in the community, put up by the state government as a memorial to the victims of the herdsmen attacks. In total, over eighty people mostly farmers have been gruesomely murdered by these rampaging herdsmen in the past twenty years since they started showing up in Uwheru.
While the dead are at rest from the deadly attacks, for the living, their lives and livelihoods have been almost wrecked by the presence of these unwelcome and savage invaders of their community. Due to fear of attacks, many residents no longer go to their farms and stay home, leading to hunger, poverty and despair.
Said Kikor: “Our farming season is usually between November and April, during the dry season; we can’t farm during rainy season because the farmlands are often flooded. Now, out of fear of these herdsmen invaders, we can’t go to the bush anymore and food production has reduced. This is affecting our means of livelihoods and our ability to take care of our families.”
For Chief (Mrs) Christiana Etagbedavwe, the Odiotu- Ode (Women Leader) of Uwheru Kingdom, the activities of the herdsmen need to be urgently checked before the community is totally destroyed by them. “Their trouble is too much. We are suffering so much because of these people. We’ve had this problem for twenty years now and something should be done as our community is under threat from them. We can’t go on like this,” she told National Point in her home at Uwheru.
While describing the activities of the herdsmen that have caused so much havoc in the kingdom, the 77 year old former teacher, farmer and businesswoman noted: “They start coming form February each year, when we would have planted our crops. Their cows eat our crops and when we confront them, they start shooting at us. Many of our people have died because of this, many women have been raped and this has affected many marriages.”
One of such survivors of the vicious attacks is a resident, simply known as Ken. On one of his encounters with the herdsmen a few years ago, the farmer said he was attacked with his sister and mother and the herdsmen, who were many, captured them. While he was tied down and was helpless, the herdsmen brutally gang raped his sister to death, a horrific incident that has left him traumatised till date.
Osieta Julius is another victim, who lost his elder brother to the rampaging herdsmen in February 2018 and is now solely responsible for caring for the widow and the seven children left behind. There are so many victims of the brutal attacks by the invading Fulani herdsmen, who come annually to wreck havoc on the peaceful community like blood sucking elements.
Indeed, after the horrific attacks of 2020, the community had banned the sale and consumption of beef as a form of protest against the killings and to stop the influx of herdsmen to the community. “The ban on beef consumption was due to the activities of the Fulani herdsmen in our communiyu,” Uwre said, noting that with the ban, the community leaders hoped the herders would work for peace or leave the community.
So how did this annual ritual of deaths, destruction and sorrow, begin in Uwheru kingdom? Findings by National Point indicate that the mayhem began about eighteen years ago in 2004 when the herdsmen showed up in the community with their cows.
On noticing that their cows were destroying their crops, the locals confronted them severally to desist from wrecking their farmlands. When the herders refused to heed their warnings, a conflict ensued, which allegedly led the herders to burn down one of the communities that make up Uwheru kingdom, Ohoror to the ground.
Since then, the attacks have become a perennial one and the community seems to have had enough.
Asked on efforts by the community to resolve the problem and stop the attacks, Chief Benjamin Ohworeko, an indigene of Uwheru and the Supervisory Councillor for Education and Community Development, Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State stated: “We are tired of these attacks from the herdsmen. We’re doing our best to secure our community but these herdsmen have superior weapons; they have AK47 and other deadly weapons. We don’t have weapons.” He noted that it was discriminatory to allow herdsmen to be armed while ordinary citizens can’t bear arms to protect themselves against their attacks. “If police sees someone on the street carrying arms, he’ll be arrested and charged for weapons possession but, Fulani herdsmen are allowed to roam about with guns and no one bothers them. That means there are different laws for different people in this country. That is not right.”
He added that the community had taken the matter to the authorites at different levels so a solution could be found. “We’ve called on all levels of government for help in stopping the attacks- the state government is aware, even the federal government too knows what’s going on in Uwheru yet the problem persists. But we won’t give up; we will keep making every effort to protect our people and ancestral lands from these invaders.”
There are some in the community however, who believe the problem persists due to complicity by security operatives particularly the military in the fracas. A resident of the community who spoke anonymously told this correspondent that some military personnel are helping the herdsmen in their attacks on his community. “Let me tell you, if it’s one on one fight with them, we can conquer them but, the military is backing them, they’ve taken sides with these invaders of our land; we often see them protecting the herdsmen in the bush; so it’s not just the herdsmen, the military too is involved. We want the Federal Government to take this matter seriously because we cannot allow these people, who they even claim are foreign herdsmen to come and be killing and tormenting us in our own community.”
Also speaking on the issue, Prof Patrick Muoboghare, an indigene of Uwheru who is the Commissioner for Higher Education in the state, noted that the security agencies’ biased handling of the crisis was largely to blame for it lasting so long. “We are conquered, not by Fulani herdsmen, because we can handle them, but by the military,” he declared. “Yet, these herdsmen are not Nigerians, as President Muhammadu Buhari said. They came from Niger, Chad and Mali. It is quite an irony that when we decided to push away these foreigners from Uwheru, why would the Nigeria military, not support us and give us medals?
“The answer is quite simple. The same President Buhari has opened Nigerian borders for Fulani worldwide to come and claim Nigeria as home. And the South is their target,” he noted.
“It’s like their plan is to chase all of us away and take over our lands,” said Chief Leader Uwre, the Secretary General of Uwheru Kingdom. He disclosed that Avwon, one of the communities under the kingdom had been taken over by the herdsmen, while the residents had fled to neighbouring communities. “The herdsmen chased the people from the village some time ago; though some have started returning, things are still not okay with them,” he stated.
Fertile soil, source of sorrow and pain
One might wonder the reason the herdsmen keep returning to Uwheru annually to graze their cattle on the community’s farmlands despite repeated warnings to desist. The very fertile soil of Uwheru could be ‘blamed’ for this.
Uwheru soil is said to be so fertile that any crop planted on it grows profusely, reason why over the years, the community has acquired the reputation of the ‘food basket’ of Delta State and beyond.
“We used to produce food in great quantity here; we had food in surplus,” Chief Etagbedavwe disclosed, adding: “When people in town say they are going to bush market, its Uwheru they are coming to. Traders used to come from Warri, Sapele, Ughelli even as far as Onitsha, Bayelsa and Rivers State. Some would come a day before the market day and sleep overnight. I gave some rooms in my house for some of them to stay.”
On the reason behind the very fertile nature of Uwheru’s farmlands, she noted: “During the rainy season, usually between April- October, our farmlands get flooded; there’s water everywhere so we can’t farm then; we stay away. Then as from November, when the water starts receding, we start planting. Our crops grow very fast and abundantly, even without fertilisers. They are green and fresh; I believe it’s the flooding which brings some minerals and nutrients that fertilises the soil- it makes the plants grow well. We plant groundnuts- our major crop, potatoes, cassava, water yam, okro and others.”
She noted that as from February, when the crops start growing, that’s when the herdsmen come and relocate elsewhere when the flooding happens from April. “Their cows eat our crops and destroy our farms. They must have noticed their cows grow fat and fresh whenever they come to our farms, that’s why they keep coming. So, our fertile soil has become a big problem for us,” she said with a sad look on her face.
A former teacher and farmer who said she started farming in the ’60s, Etagbedavwe revealed that through her farming business, she was able to train her ten children most of who are graduates. Due to the herdsmen menace however, she stated things had gone really bad in the community.
“It’s throughfarming, fishing we earn our livelihoods, train our children, feed and live our lives. It’s no longer so now because of these people destroying our farms. We don’t have money anymore to pay school fees and our children are leaving school; these herdsmen are causing a lot of hardship for us,” said the women leader.
Kikor, who owns farms where he works with his wife and children, noted that his business has been adversely affected because of the herdsmen problem. Said he: “It’s affecting our livelihoods, our business; we now stay home, because of fear of attacks by the herdsmen. Government should come to our aid because we don’t have any other work we do except farming. Since we can’t farm because of these herdsmen, what do they want us to do? Starve? We are suffering here o!”
Government’s response to crisis
While the deadly attacks on Uwheru had been going on for years, the response from the government and security agencies had left much to be desired as none of the attackers had ever been apprehended or brought to justice. There are also accusations of cover ups by the military and police whenever attacks happen.
The assault of two years ago that claimed the lives of ten people in the community however, seemed to change that lackadaisical attitude probably due to the massive outcry and condemnations of the incident from different quarters including the Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU), a socio-political umbrella group of the Urhobo nation, Urhobo Renaissance Society and others.
While reacting to the incident, the Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa had condemned the attacks, calling it “unprovoked and mindless.”
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Olisa Ifeajika, Okowa flayed the crisis that resulted in the untimely deaths of many persons in Uwheru kingdom. While commiserating with the people of Uwheru for the deaths of their loved ones, he noted that the unwarranted attacks and the killing of innocent locals in Uwheru kingdom and the wickedness of suspected criminal herdsmen alleged to be aided and abetted by alleged military personnel, was mindless, calling on the community to remain calm and peaceful. The governor stated that he had directed security agencies including the State Commissioner of Police and the Brigade Commander 63rd Brigade, Nigerian Army, Asaba to ensure that peace was restored to the communities while investigations into the root causes of the crisis with a view to bringing the culprits to justice, were carried out.
‘We want peace in our land’
From all indications, the people of Uwheru need much more than platitudes and words of commiseration to feel safe and secure in their community. Said Chief Uwre: “All we want is peace and security; we want better security measures in place in our community, for our protection from these herdsmen invaders. For instance, there’s a police station here but it’s not functioning; its not been commisiioned yet sothere are no staff. If anything happens, we have to go to Ughelli which is many kilometres away. We are planning to convert the Town Hall into a police station as a temporay measure. ”
For the police, it disclosed through its spokesperson Onome Umukoro that some measures have been put in place to prevent future attacks. “We have a patrol unit that patrols the vicinity at intervals. We have also given out a (phone) line to be dialed when suspecting any attack.”
Whether these measures will be enough to secure Uwheru kingdom from further onslaughts from the armed, marauding herdsmen, only time will tell.
Back at Egbine’s groundnut factory which she jocularly calls ‘Mercy Groundnut Depot’, the 52 year old mother of three is preparing for another day of business. To one side of the open space are several sacks filled with ground nuts in different stages of processing. From one of the sacks, she took a handful and offered this reporter
