He disclosed this to SaharaReporters on Tuesday while reacting to a statement by the Ogun State Government that only Beninoise living in Nigeria fled to the Benin Republic during those attacks.
A royal family member in the Eggua community of Ogun State, Prince Olu Abiola, has explained how some of the victims of attacks by killer Fulani herders in the area escaped to the neighbouring Benin Republic.
He disclosed this to SaharaReporters on Tuesday while reacting to a statement by the Ogun State Government that only Beninoise living in Nigeria fled to the Benin Republic during those attacks.
“Some people really ran away for their lives because, at that period, those areas were not safe for them to reside. The Fulani herders laid ambush consistently to the extent that many people could not sleep in their houses. So this forced them to escape to other neighbouring towns in Nigeria as well as in Benin Republic," he said.
Abiola, who was the former
Chairman of Yewa North Local Government Area, clarified that there are residents of Ogun communities living close to the border Nigeria shares with Benin Republic.
He said such allows for easy access of people in such Ogun communities to Benin Republic, adding that the similar cultures of the two peoples make it easy.
“You know that Benin Republic is very close to us. We do these things in common so parts of Eegelu are in Nigeria and also in the Benin Republic. So, if there is a crisis in Nigeria, these people can easily flee to Benin,” he added.
He went further to talk about the incident in correlation with sharing palliatives to woo people back to the country, “To answer that question straightforward, I thought you listened to Hon. Kayode Oladele, the Committee Chairman on Peace-keeping in Ogun West. They are still working and going round now, distributing palliatives to the affected victims. And before Friday, he will be in the Ketu axis of Ogun State where Eggua falls into.
“For the past two weeks now, we have not seen them even within Yewa. The problem of insecurity is going down little by little, and we pray it is sustained. "
In his reactions to the blockade of food items from the North to the South-Western States, the prince said Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has innovative agricultural reforms that other South-West governors should imbibe to address the food crisis in the South-West states.
“Really, I commend the efforts of Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun on the agricultural revolution in the state. He has been trying. He’s encouraging farmers with incentives and other farm reforms. Even in the Eggua axis here, there is enough land for people to farm and when they show interest, he supports. Our former President Olusegun Obasanjo also has a rice farm here in Eggua.
“I will just say that they should emulate his and invent their own agricultural reforms that will encourage and help people to farm. Even, talking about cattle rearing, we have uncultivated lands in the South-West that can be used as ranches that can be enough to rear the cattle that we will consume, so I don’t see a big deal in this threat. We can have farm settlements to address all farming and agricultural challenges, good lands.”