Group raises alarm over influx of suspicious persons into Benin Kingdom

By FRANCIS OMOIRIBHOLO, Benin

Ogbakha-Edo, a Benin-Socio cultural group, has raised an alarm over what it described as the “sudden and embarrassing influx of thousands of young able-bodied jobless men ostensibly of the

Hausa/Fulani tribe from the northern parts of Nigeria, into Benin Kingdom, nay Edo South Senatorial District”.

The group noted that apart from eyewitness reports, the social media has been awash with several videos of these young men either being offloaded in their hundreds from long haulage trucks, or streaming in a dreadful surge in the streets of Benin City.

This development, the group further noted, is more worrisome for the fact that it looks like a very well coordinated deployment of idle young men from among a people who in recent time have allegedly come to be notorious for their intolerance, hostility, violence and a propensity to dominate their hosts and grab their lands and other assets.

Ogbakha-Edo made these observations in a Statement signed by Dr. Andrew Osaretin Izekor, its

Secretary General.

According to the group, “the fear of these suspicious people is heightened by the unenviable reputation they have gained as easily and allegedly inclining to armed robbery, kidnapping and terrorism, and who have allegedly laid seige to our highways and villages with the attendant threat to lives and property.

“While Ogbakha-Edo does not want to join in the stereotyping of these particular group of new arrivals from the north as criminals, we cannot however help but to express the feeling of great concern and a sense of insecurity their presence has awoken in our people.

“As we speak, there are reports of the Fulani herdsmen coveting forest reserves and farmlands in

Ovia and Orhionmwon, from where they are said to launch alleged criminal attacks on unsuspecting farmers and travelers.

“Of note is the occupation of the Odighi Forest where unconfirmed report had it that there are over two thousand Fulanis that have forcefully occupied a vast expanse of the forest as their habitation and their fortress.

“The reports that many of these newcomers have drifted into the forest to join their Fulani relatives or to form their own cells have fueled the suspicion that there is a sinister motive behind their coming to Benin Kingdom. (Sunday Independent)