Policemen watched as herdsmen attacked us –Oyo farmer

One Seun Isaiah, one of the farmers allegedly attacked at Igangan in the Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State on Friday, has said that policemen watched as Fulani herdsmen living in the community attacked him and three others.

Isaiah, who was earlier reported to be one of the two persons who died following the attack, survived though with heavy cuts inflicted on his head.

The farmer narrated what transpired in a video made available to newsmen by the Convener, Igangan Development Advocates, Oladiran Oladokun.

According to Oladokun, the victim recounted his ordeal at the hospital when the Executive Assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde on Security, Sunday Odukoya, visited him (Isaiah) at the hospital where he was being treated.

With a heavily bandaged head, Isaiah said he and three others were returning home on the same motorcycle when the Fulani men inflicted machete cuts on them, adding that he does not know the whereabouts of the others.

Read also: Herdsmen drag Oyo govt to court over anti-grazing law

Isaiah said: “The four of us were on the same motorcycle; they just came out and waylaid us. We were not attacked inside the bush; we were attacked at Oju Alagolo. We would have turned back, but we saw some policemen there and that was why we felt there would not be any problem.”

On how he got to know that the attackers are Fulani, Isaiah said they were the town’s herdsmen.

He said further: “One of those Fulani who attacked us with a cutlass came out of his house. I know his house. They did not say we did anything. They ran after us and started inflicting cuts on us as we sped away. Two police vehicles were where we were attacked by the Fulani men, but they pretended as if they did not see what happened. The motorcycle is still where we were attacked,” he added.

Residents of the town revealed that a Yoruba activist, Sunday Igboho, had earlier visited the town and went to the Fulani settlement, where he gave them a seven-day notice to quit because of their alleged atrocities.

This, according to reports, led to crisis with two huts allegedly set ablaze.

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