Ogoni Farmers Threaten To Sit At Home

Farmers in Ogoni of Rivers State have threatened to shut down food production in the area, if the issue of insecurity of farmers in the farms is not properly addressed by government and security agencies in Ogoni lands.
The spokesman of the farmers, Mrs Rosannah Leedum Emmanuel made this known, Monday while lamenting over the daily killings of farmers in Ogoni at Ogoni General Assembly 2018, organised by the Ken Saro-Wiwa Associates in Bori, in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Emmanuel said, just last week were two female farmers killed in their farms by unknown gunmen at Sii and Gwara communities of Ogoni and uptil date nobody has been able to fish out the perpetrators of the crime.
She said the daily killings of farmers and high rate of robbery in the farms has reduced the production of foods in the area as many farmers were afraid of going to the farms.
After much deliberation on the issue, the Ogoni General Assembly came up with a decision as part of the communiqué in the meeting that, the entire Ogoni would boycott the 2019 election in Nigeria, if the government and security agencies did not address the issue of insecurity in the area.
Announcing the decision of the assembly, the National Coordinator of Ken-Saro-Wiwa Associates, Chief Gani Topba called on government and, particularly the police, to invite the Chiefs and elders of the two communities (Sii and Gwara) to produce the hoodlums in their communities, alleging that the issue of insecurity in the area was as a result of land dispute between the two communities.
Topba used the medium to warn cultists in the area to embrace peace and shun violence to avoid the anger of Ogoni youths on them.
He said time has come when the youths and people of Ogoni would not be folding their hands and watch their innocent mothers and people dying in the name of cultism, politics and communal crisis in the area.
When contacted, a police source in Bori, who did not want his name in print said it was only one female farmer that was reportedly killed.
He said the police have not received any report about the second person alleged to have been killed in Gwara community.
According to our source, peace has returned to the area, while investigation was still ongoing to unravel the perpetrators of the crime in the area.

Enoch Epelle