Urhobo apex union petitions Buhari over Uwheru killings
The apex Urhobo socio-political group otherwise known as the Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU) worldwide has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over the recent killing of farmers and destruction of crops worth millions of naira in Uwheru community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta state by suspected herdsmen.
The group in a statement endorsed by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Abel Oshevire, made available to journalists in Asaba on Tuesday, stated that the group received with shock the report of the attack and killing by herdsmen in Agadama Town and other villages in Uwheru Community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state, where over eight persons were murdered and many more displaced from their ancestral homes
The statement further averred that the group is particularly, worried that men in military uniforms supported the herdsmen to carry out the carnage and urged President Buhari, and the military authorities to investigate the allegation with a view to bringing the security agents and herdsmen involved in the killings to book.
“As we also speak, a whole community in Uwheru and Avwon have been taken over by these herdsmen, while all indigenes have fled the place for their lives. A lot of the people have become refugees in other places; families have been displaced and many who escaped the killings through the bush remain missing and unaccounted for,” the UPU said in the statement.
The group said that other Uwheru communities like Oreba, Owarovwo, Ophororo, Ohoror and Urede among others are constantly attacked by the herdsmen who openly boast that they will take- over the communities unchallenged.
“We have since been witnessing the mass exodus of people due to the ferocity and daring at which these vampire herdsmen perpetrate their gruesome activities,” the UPU added.
The statement alleged that the herdsmen are known to even demand for levies and protection money from the people in Uwheru community who are pursuing their legitimate livelihood of fishing and farming on their ancestral lands, stressing that those who resist these demands have been known to have been attacked, raped, maimed or killed by the herdsmen.
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“We find it ridiculous, insulting, offensive and unacceptable that strangers we took in and accommodated as part of us, and as fellow Nigerians, should turn around to become our tormentors and killers? God forbid, we will no longer condone this” the group vowed.
It warned that the Urhobo nation cannot be conquered as they may be forced to defend themselves and their lands, if the unprovoked harassment and killings of their people is not halted forthwith.
The statement adding that the Urhobo people are peace- loving whether at home or wherever they dwell, asserting that it would no longer tolerate the nuisance of any unfriendly and troublesome stranger in their midst.
