Social activities and businesses have been completely shut down in Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzu local government area of Enugu State, as thousands of women staged a massive protest against Fulani herdsmen’s incessant attacks and killings in the area, 9News Nigeria has learnt.
The women, drawn from seven autonomous communities, blocked a two-kilometre stretch of the Nkalagu-Eha-Amufu-Ikem-Obollo-Afor Federal Highway.
This protest follows a similar one on Tuesday by hundreds of women from Eha-Ohala, comprising Mgbuji Umujove and Abor autonomous communities.
The protesters accused security agencies and some government officials of complicity and inaction in the attacks, which have reportedly claimed over 150 lives and displaced residents from their farms and homes since 2021.
“We are being raped, beaten, and mutilated by suspected herdsmen,” the protesting women lamented.
“Our husbands and sons are too afraid to go to their farms. When we go to our farms, we are beaten and raped by Fulani herdsmen, who also insert sticks into our private parts.”
The protest was triggered by reports that the chairman of Isi-Uzu Council, Mr. Obiora Obeagu, claimed that Tuesday’s protest was sponsored and that there were no herdsmen attacks or killings in Eha-Amufu.
One of the protest leaders, Mrs. Angela Ogenyi, branded Mr. Obeagu as a mole who profits from the blood of his people.
“We want the governor to come and address us if we are still part of the state,” she insisted.
Mrs Ogenyi who spoke to SaharaReporters, said, “After our protest on Tuesday which was intended to draw attention of Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State and his administration to the massacre going on in Eha-Amufu over the years, with no signs of ending, the council chairman went to the media to claim the protest was sponsored.
“He is from Mgbuji autonomous community and because he has not been visiting home, he doesn’t know that residents of farm settlements in his community had been sacked and occupied by herdsmen for more than two years now, yet he is the Isi-Uzu council chairman.
“Today, we the women of entire Eha-Amufu, comprising Mgbuji, Umujove, Agu-amede, Abor, Isu, Orokoro, Ikpakpara, Umuhu, Amede, and Ihenyi have decided to stage the mother of all protests to draw the attention of Governor Peter Mbah to the killings. He has done little or nothing to stop the carnage since he assumed office in 2023.”
“You can see the population of women protesting. Who is sponsoring us? We want the governor to come and address us if we are still part of the state. It is not only when election comes that we are remembered. If they kill all of us before 2027, he will have nobody to vote for him or even rig the election for him. Those in authority should take responsibility for what is going on in Eha-Amufu,” she added.
Efforts to speak with the council chairman were unsuccessful, as he did not answer his calls at the time this report was filed.
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