On Friday, February 21, an attack on seven farming settlements in the Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo is thought to have killed at least 23 people and injured a number more.
The communities that were affected were Marindoti, Gbelemontin Domiju, Kola Village, Taiye Camp, Eto Camp, Dipe Community, Bala Dele Community, and Thousand Community. It was learned that the majority of the residents of these settlements were farmers from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, including Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and Benin.
The attackers, who were thought to be Ijaw militants from nearby creeks, stormed the settlements early in the morning with firearms and other weapons.
By indiscriminately shooting, burning houses, and destroying property, including cars and motorcycles, the attackers spread fear.
Residents were forced to abandon their homes and means of subsistence as a result of the onslaught. One of the witnesses described the attacks as a retribution for the execution of a suspected cocoa thief by local vigilantes paid by the farmers.
This incident increased existing tensions between the farmers and the supposed militants, who had previously been accused of trespassing on fields and stealing produce. The Edo police, however, only confirmed seven fatalities and six injuries, stating that an initial investigation indicated a clash between communities.
CSP Moses Yamu, Public Relations Officer of the command, in a statement on Sunday, said operatives of the Iguobazuwa Police Division, in collaboration with the Nigerian Army and the vigilantes, had evacuated the casualties to the hospital, where the injured were currently receiving treatment.
“The joint operation is sustained as the situation has been brought under control and normalcy restored. However, investigation into the cause of the clash has equally commenced,” he said.
CP Betty Enekpen Isokpan Otimenyin, the Commissioner of Police, has promised to do everything in her power to find the cause of the regrettable and preventable situation. It was noted during a visit to the scene that a large number of displaced people were fleeing with their possessions in search of safety in other locations.
The once-thriving farming communities now looked like ghost towns, and many homes were reduced to ashes.
Igbala Obazuaye, the head of the Marindoti community and a distressed local, stated in an interview that although they had been farming in the area for years, problems began when certain young people started to seek royalties from them.
“It started in 1998 when some youths began encroaching on our land, stealing our crops, and kidnapping our people, notwithstanding the payment of the royalties,” he said.
Another local who was shot, Obazuaye, claimed that the attackers entered the neighborhood at around eight in the morning and killed seven people in his neighborhood alone.
He claims that the attackers burned almost N20 million worth of cash, kola nuts, and cocoa. He pleaded for help in reconstructing their villages, military protection, and the opening of a local police station.
Additionally, a resident of the Dipe community named Nafisat Abdulazeez called the event horrific and demanded that Governor Monday Okpebholo step in right away. According to her, at least fifteen people were slain in her town of Dipe, and a number of others were reported missing.
“They came into our community, shooting and burning houses. They killed 15 people, and many more were injured. They even burnt my own house, and my family was forced to flee,” she said.
Joseph Otu, who bemoaned the harm done to the rural villages, denied that the attack was communal, claiming that militants had attacked without warning in order to terrify and extort peaceful farmers.
Otu also emphasized the villages’ substantial economic contributions to the state through the production of plantains, cocoa, and kola nuts, and requested authorities to send security personnel to protect the area.
Usman Mukaila of the Dipe village, for his part, praised the prompt deployment of soldiers from the Nigerian Army’s 4 Brigade, Brig-Gen. Ebenezer Oduyebo, and demanded the construction of an Army base nearby.
“We commend the Commander of the 4 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Benin, for the immediate intervention and deployment of soldiers. That has helped to calm the situation for now. If not for him, the rest of the people would have gone. We also thank the governor,” he said.
“We, however, urge him to bring a permanent Army base to this area. We are crying, we really need his help. You can see all our women and children leaving.”
