Concern has been expressed by farmers and landowners in a number of Cross River towns regarding the ongoing encroachment of livestock and armed herdsmen who are purportedly threatening people with AK-47 weapons on their farmlands.
According to reports, the incidences are common in some areas of the Odukpani Local Government Area, where locals lament the destruction of crops and the frightening of their communities.
A native of the riverine town of Ntan Obu, Ikpeme Effiom claimed that since last year, his farmlands had been repeatedly destroyed.
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He claimed that from Itu in nearby Akwa Ibom State to Ntan Obu and other Ukwa Eburutu settlements, herdsmen with sizable herds of cattle have settled along the riverbanks.
The subject was also discussed extensively during a live phone-in show on HIT FM in Calabar, where listeners expressed their disapproval of what they described as the impunity of armed herdsmen in their neighbourhoods.
One of the callers, identified as Atim Otu claimed that animals had just invaded and uprooted crops on her sister’s cassava farm in Okoyong.
She added that her brother-in-law was intimidated with a rifle when he confronted the herdsmen.
Similar grievances were raised by other callers from the Atan Okoyong, Inua Akpa, and Okurikang areas, who said that herders remove crops to feed their cattle in addition to letting them graze freely on farmed property.
According to Chief John Asanye, the secretary of the Okun and Eniong Abatim Clan Council in Odukpani, conflicts between farmers and herders had been common in the larger Okoyong axis since 2019, albeit he was unsure if these instances were happening in Ntan Obu as a result of increasing coastal levels.
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Speaking with herding association members was challenging as of the time of publication.
When contacted, ASP Eitokpah Sunday Akata, the Police Public Relations Officer, stated that he would check with the Divisional Police Officer in Odukpani to see if a formal complaint had been filed.
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