WorldStage Newsonline– A large number of people of Ifon, a town near Owo in the Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria on Monday took their destiny into their own hands through a riotous protest on the highway over unpleasant killing of people in their farmland by alleged Fulani herdsmen.
As early as before 9AM in the morning, the protesters mostly youths and women blocked the only major road linking the state with Edo State.
Vehicular movements through the road was prevented for over an hour, causing long queues on both sides as travelers going both ways got trapped and stranded.
The protesters who blocked the road with heavy tires and woods carried placards yelling in loud voices, claiming that they’d received permission from authorities to embark on a peaceful protest.
They said such a protest was necessary for authorities to take them serious as other efforts to get government attention had failed, as kidnappers had continued to attack them, collected ransoms and still killed many.
The inscriptions on the big banner fastened on their roadblock include requests for; Safe our souls; unpleasant killing of our people on their farmland by Fulani herdsmen; kidnapping and raping of our women on their farmland; destruction of crops with cattle; stealing of farm products; mismanagement of community funds; no leadership; over four years in total darkness.
A victim of the kidnappers, Olanrewaju Esibiayere who joined the protesters narrated to WorldStage his ordeals in their din, saying he was tied with rope on a tree for three days with his hand badly twisted.
He said he was kidnapped on March 21 with about N10 million on him while riding a motorbike (Okada) on his way to the farm to buy cocoa.
The cocoa buyer said his brother who was riding behind him was also badly injured, while his bother’s wife, a plantain buyer, was killed during the ambush.
Before he regained his freedom on March 24, he said beside losing the N10 million with him, the kidnappers collected N2.05 million ransom and N118,550 collected for provision.
He put his total loss at N12,168,550.
He said he was dropped off on March 24 around 1.00 midnight few distance after the Army checking point near the community.
He said the incident had left him broke and sick as he took his wounded hand to hospital with little relief while he is currently making do with native medicines.
Esibiayere said before his kidnap, one victim, the first parted with N1.5 million before he was released.
He said the most recent incident which sparked the Monday protest by the community involved five people including a 3 years old child and a 15 years old youth with all of them still nursing their wounds in the hospital.
When some soldiers in their truck numbering about five approached the protesting youth after 9.30AM, the protesters stood their ground that there would be no passage.
The soldiers spent close to an hour to persuade them to explore other options to make their grievance known, rather than blocking a major road, but they initially resisted.
At a point, the soldiers shot about four rounds from their guns into the air. This only infuriated the protesters more. As the soldiers made moves to dismantle the blockages, some protesters rushed behind to drag more woods on the road in another spot.
They later reached a truce with the protesters agreeing to open the road for only 25 minutes for travelers and the soldiers to pass with the threat that the blockage would be re-erected.
The Chief Press Secretary to Ondo State Governor, Mr Ebenener Adeniyan in telephone conversation with WorldStage said the incident was a security issue, not that of the governor, and that the security agency had taken it up.
Some of the protesters had complained that not until they embarked on such protest that the government will take them serious.
They made reference to Sobe community, about 7 Km away which faced similar attacks before and had to stage violent disturbance which led to the drafting of soldiers to their community which eventually led to the end of kidnapping there.
