Northern elders kick as Delta community moves to eject herders

The Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF), Wednesday, decried the moves by residents of Okpanam community in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State to forcefully eject peaceful herders out of the area.

Daily Trust reports that the traditional ruler (Ugoani) of Okpanam Kingdom, Michael Ogbolu, had last week raised the alarm during a tripartite meeting at his palace in Okpanam that no fewer than 300 Fulani indigenes, mostly herders, have taken over a section of the community, saying the intruders had 15 days to vacate the area.

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Earlier, the state government had appealed to the community to stop labelling all northerners residing in the state as herdsmen or herders perpetrating crimes.

But reacting to the ultimatum, NEF’s spokesman, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said: “The story about forceful ejection of some northerners from a community in Delta State is very disturbing.

“Our position in the forum is that every Nigerian must be allowed to stay in any part of Nigeria where he or she is earning a living, and living peacefully. Under no circumstance should any northerner be ejected from any part of the South by people in the community who are taking the laws into their own hands.”