The Nigerian Red Cross Society has confirmed that thousands of residents of Yewa and Imeko-Afon communities in Ogun State who fled from the incessant herdsmen’s attacks now sleep in Benin Republic for protection.
The Red Cross said it was working with the Nigerian government to resettle the displaced Ogun State residents who had fled to avoid being killed by herdsmen.
The Ogun State Branch Secretary of the Red Cross, Oluwole Aboyade, said this on Wednesday, while speaking with Daily Post, adding that he and his team visited the troubled areas – Igbooro, Asa, Moro, Ibeku and Agbon-Ojodu.
He stated that many residents had deserted their homes to seek refuge in Benin.
He said, “What I saw there alongside my team, I will term it a very serious disaster. The people have deserted their homes and they now sleep in Benin Republic. You can imagine people leaving Nigeria to seek protection in another country. The situation is more than pathetic.”
Meanwhile, the Red Cross said it would seek assistance from Nigerians to help in bringing succour to the residents of the affected Yewa communities.
SaharaReporters had on Monday reported that some of the residents had moved to Pobe, a Benin Republic town, and were looking for houses to settle in until the unrest in their towns was over.
It had been gathered that despite assurances by the Ogun State Government, the security agencies such as the police and the army personnel in Yewa, Ipokia and Imeko Afon were allegedly bias towards Fulani herdsmen.
Residents had lamented that their lives were not safe.
“The people of Yewaland are trooping into Pobe, Benin Republic. They can no longer trust our security operatives. They have to flee for their lives to that town to breathe fresh air. They started fleeing since last week – women, children, men with sacks of clothes and no means of livelihood.
“The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has been sleeping. If he has not, he should have known that Yewaland is being deserted. We are being frustrated by the herdsmen’s attacks,” a resident, Mr Wasiu, had told SaharaReporters.
Like in Oyo and Ondo states, Ogun State has been at the receiving end of violent herdsmen’s attacks in recent weeks, leading to crisis in the communities and ethnic clashes between the indigenes and the herders.
