BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE, IBADAN
Female farmers in Iseyin, Oyo State, under the aegis of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, have lamented the reported cases of rape of aged female farmers by some herdsmen in the state.
A female farmer in Iseyin Local Government Area of the state, (preferred anonymity), said that young herders must be checked from sexually molesting the female farmers.
The woman, who spoke on Friday, at a peace meeting held to end clashes between farmers and herders in the Iseyin Local Government Area of the state, said, “Our people have spoken but I want to talk about rape of older women by young herders.
“This is abominable and it should not happen again. Some of your boys (young herders) would meet female farmers in the bush and rape them. Some of these women are old and have stopped menstruating long time ago and even their husbands don’t touch them again. But your boys would meet them in the bush and molest them sexually.
“Fulani girls and women are beautiful but despite that, no Yoruba boy or man has even met them in the bush and raped them. It has never happened around this axis. So, let us tell them that their children (young herders) must not molest our mothers and other females again.
“Anybody caught doing this should be heavily punished according to the law and I believe that will serve as a deterrent to others.”
The Secretary of AFAN in Oyo State, Adewumi Abass, said that the meeting was called to address conflicting issues.
He said everything must be done to ensure a peaceful coexistence between farmers and herders because both were into food production.
He said, ”There must be peaceful relationship between herders and farmers. Farm destruction must stop because those who rear livestock are doing so for money and farmers who grow crops also do so for money. Therefore, we must not allow one to disturb the other.
”Destruction of crops and farmland will aggravate food scarcity and this will affect everybody. Herders must not destroy crops and farmers should also not kill herders animals. We had been living together peacefully before and this should continue.”
Alhaji Yakubu Bello, leader of the Fulani in Iseyin Local Government Area, noted that language barrier and ethnicity were responsible for the incessant crises between the herders and the farmers.
Bello said, ”Anybody who commits a crime should be punished, wether he or she is a herder or a farmer. That will serve as deterrent to others.”
