Enugu women protest herdsmen attacks, block highway

Enugu women protest herdsmen attacks, block highway

Women from Eha-Ohala, comprising Mgbuji, Umujove, and Abor autonomous communities in the Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State, on Tuesday protested against persistent attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

The protesters blocked the Nkalagu-Eha-Amufu-Ikem-Obollo-Afor Federal Highway, carrying green leaves and singing lamentation songs to draw attention to their plight.

They accused security agencies of failing to protect them while the attackers continued to destroy their farms and settlements.

They shared harrowing accounts of women being raped, beaten, and mutilated by Fulani herdsmen.

“Our women are being raped, our husbands and sons can’t go to farm anymore. When we go to the farm, we’re beaten, raped, and brutalized,” the women lamented.

Mrs Roseline Odoh, a protester, stated that the community can no longer access their farms due to the constant attacks.

Odoh said, “Every year, during harvest, Fulani herdsmen come and occupy our farms, destroying our livelihood. We’re farmers, and we have no other means to survive except through farming.

“The worst is that they have sacked us from our farm settlements. So many of us don’t have anywhere to go. Our houses have been burnt down and the invaders occupy it. So many of our people – children, youths and our husbands have been killed. In each of these cases, the government and security agencies will deny that our people were not attacked and killed. The reason for doing so, we don’t know.

“If they send soldiers and police here, they will only patrol the town. They don’t go to where these criminals are occupying,” she lamented, adding, “It is high time the Fulani herdsmen attacks stopped.”

She added, “Our people don’t have boundaries with Fulani herdsmen. So we don’t find it plausible how the government is dealing with the issue with hide and seek.”

According to the protesters, over 150 people from the affected communities have been killed between 2020 and 2025, while more than 28 farm settlements have been sacked and occupied by the attackers.

Attempts to get a response from the Enugu State Police Command and Governor Peter Mbah’s media office were unsuccessful, as neither responded to inquiries as of press time.