A coalition of South-East youth leaders has asked Fulani herdsmen to vacate farmlands in the Assa community in the Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State, which they have allegedly been occupying and destroying since March.
A statement issued by the group on Saturday, endorsed by Goodluck Ibem, the group’s president General, gave the herders a two-day ultimatum to vacate the community.
The statement called for the immediate arrest of the herders and the payment of adequate compensation to farm owners.
The statement said that open grazing had been banned in the country, regretting the economic losses the herders had caused the community residents.
The statement read, “The attention of the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, the apex sociopolitical youth group in the South East geopolitical zone has been drawn to the unlawful occupation and destruction of farmlands in Obasa Assa Community in the Ohaji/Egbeme Local Government Area of Imo State by Fulani herdsmen with their cattle whose wicked activities have brought great famine on the people as their crops have been eating up by the cows while also sending the community parking from their ancestral homes and community.
“The issue of open grazing has been banned for a long time and anyone or group of persons still involved in such outdated practise is on a wicked mission to take the ancestral lands of the community they are staying in.
“The cattle they are moving around with is just a smokescreen to cover their real wicked intentions.
“What are those terrorists parading as Fulani herdsmen doing with AK47 rifles and other dangerous weapons if not to kill, rape and sack the community they are staying in. This madness must stop immediately.
