During a dispute between farmers and cattle breeders in Ugbene, Awka North Local Government Area, Anambra State, two people were reportedly injured.
However, the state police command informed The Nation yesterday that there had been no clashes in the state between farmers and herders. Ikenga Tochukwu, the Police Public Relations Officer, stated that the altercation was merely between two individuals.
He stated that the incident occurred on Wednesday and that it was amicably handled.
Tochukwu urged residents to refrain from fueling the flames of discontent in the state, noting that the issue of herders and farmers clashes had been resolved for over a year.
He said that the governor’s committee, which included government representatives, all of the state’s security chiefs, religious leaders, other stakeholders, and MACBAN, had efficiently handled the situation.
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), on the other hand, has raised concerns about what it calls “repeated attacks on herders” in the state.
Herders in some sections of the state, according to the organisation, are being attacked on a regular basis.
In a statement issued Friday in Awka, MACBAN’s South-East Zonal Chairman, Alhaji Gidado Siddiki, called on the state governor, Willie Obiano, to intervene.
Siddiki said: “My attention was drawn to a video clip that went viral about what happened at Ugbene community, Awka North LGA, on Wednesday.
“I made enquiry and found out that one Musa Adamu was with his cattle at Ugbene community land when he spotted someone coming to him violently. He asked the person what happened? The person didn’t tell him anything. The person just held his tie, fell him down and matcheted him on his forehead. He also spotted some two persons coming with force towards them.
“In the process of defending himself, he stabbed the person, and the person left him. That was how he escaped. We have lost many herdsmen and their cattle in Awka North.
“The Fulani people in the South-East are not violent and we are not here to undermine the business of the people of the area.
“Members of the association had enjoyed cordial relationships with their host communities in Anambra, particularly and the South East region at large until the advent of insecurity across the country which have claimed many innocent lives.”
