A clash between farmers and herdsmen in Akaeze, Ivo LGA of Ebonyi State, yesterday, left four persons from both sides seriously injured. While three h
A clash between farmers and herdsmen in Akaeze, Ivo LGA of Ebonyi State, yesterday, left four persons from both sides seriously injured. While three herdsmen where left with serious head injuries, one of the farmers received machete cuts on various parts of his body. The farmer who sustained machete cut wounds, is receiving treatment at the Emergency Ward of Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (FETHA) while the injured herdsmen are receiving treatment at a hospital in Awgu, Enugu State.
It was gathered that herdsmen from Mpu in Enugu invaded farmlands in Akaeze and destroyed farm crops, which angered one of the farmers that was butchered, because he confronted them. The incident forced the state governor, David Umahi, to ban grazing in the entire LGA until investigation into the matter was concluded. He said: “You bring animals in by vehicles because there are no cattle routes in this state. There is no grazing reserve in Ebonyi, there is no colony here. You cannot come into somebody’s farm without his permission, you can’t do that.
“Any cattle that goes into farmland should be arrested immediately. Anybody that kills the cows of a Fulani man should go to prison for five years and also pay for the cattle. Any Fulani man that destroys the farm of a farmer will go to prison for five years and pay for the cost of the farmland,” Umahi stated.
