Herdsmen marauders: Isuikwuato women send SOS to Ikpeazu

By EMEKA OKAFOR, Umuahia

On the heels of perceived attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen in their area, women of Amiyiobilo­hia Community in Isikwuato Council Area of Abia State havr cried for help from the state governor, Dr. Okezie Ik­peazu, to rescue them from the invaders hiding in their area.

The women who made the appeal through one of their leaders, Mrs. Fidelia Mkpu, while presenting an address during the com­missioning of a completed 50 Open Shops built by the State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ASOPADEC) said the pres­ence of the suspected herd­ers in their farmlands has prevented them from going to farm or to their streams.

Mrs. Mkpu while com­mending Governor Ikpeazu for directing that the project be located in their commu­nity, however, prayed the governor to intervene in the rising cases of attacks and in most cases, raping of women who went to their farmlands by the suspected herdsmen.

The woman leader said fears had been heightened in the community following cases of attacks in the recent times on women on their way to their farms, a situa­tion that made people of the area to abandon their farms.

She maintained that the community being a food producing area may not be able to go to their farmlands to harvest or cultivate them during the coming farming season.

Also speaking, an illustri­ous daughter of the commu­nity and a serving Commis­sioner in the Commission, Hon. Kate Maduako, decried the alleged attacks and prayed that God should inter­vene in the circumstance and alleged a security breach.

She assured them the state government would do everything possible to pro­tect the lives and property of people in the state.

Recall that a member of the state House of Assem­bly representing Isuikwua­to State Constituency, Hon. Barr. Emeka Okoroafor, had raised the alarm over rising cases of attacks and kidnapping within his con­stituency in recent times. (Daily Independent)