Some protesters from Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State late on Thursday carried a corpse of one of the seven people killed in the locality allegedly by herdsmen to the Governor’s Office in Benin City.
The protesters gave the Edo State government a three-day ultimatum to address the problem of insecurity in the area and secure lives and property.
The community dwellers said that they brought the corpse to the Government House because police at the Ekiadolor Police Division only told them to go and deposit the body in the mortuary.
The protesters said they had experienced several killings by herdsmen and that Governor Godwin Obaseki’s visits to the area several times with assurance of adequate security and safety had not materialised in the face of the recent killings in the area
It would be recalled that seven persons were confirmed killed on Wednesday at the agrarian communities of Ugboke, Oshodi, Okokodo, Ariyan and Yoruba camp in the local government area.
One of the protesters, Michael Idahosa, said the communities could no longer bear the incessant attacks on the farmers, adding that they decided to bring the body to government house so that the governor could see their plight.
“We are here to protest the killings by herdsmen in our communities. The governor came to Ovia North East in 2017 when herdsmen killed one of our persons and promised to tackle the problem of herdsmen in our local government, but the government did not,” he said.
Receiving the protesters, the Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, assured them that the government would intensify efforts at providing adequate security to check the rising spate of herders killing activities in the state.
“As a state, we have made up our mind not to lament but look for solutions on how to protect our country and our state. There was also an attack in the early hours of today in Niger State; it’s a national problem. As we speak now, Governor Godwin Obaseki and other governors are in Abuja to discuss this insecurity issue in our country,” the deputy governor said.