Indigenes of Ike-Onicha, Onicha-Ukwuani community, Ndokwa West Local Government Area, Delta State, have turned to their gods, invoking divine vengeance on herdsmen they accuse of invading their ancestral lands and disrupting peaceful farming.

For nearly a month, the sound of the community’s women working the soil has been replaced by a creepy silence. Fear grips the village as armed herders reportedly established an unauthorised camp between Ike-Onicha and Ogbagu, transforming once-familiar farm paths into potential danger zones.

“Every day, we wake up hungry and go to bed hungry,” said Ogbuiji Augustine Chukwuma, the Onochieze/Secretary to Okpala Uku of Ike-Onicha. “Our women cannot go to the farm. The fear of being kidnapped, raped, or killed creeps into their hearts whenever they encounter strange faces in the bush.”

The invasion took root about four weeks ago when cattle herders moved into the area’s fertile bushes. Community leaders made repeated attempts at peaceful resolution, visiting the herders two to three times to request their departure.

Existential threat

“We went to them with open hands, asking them to leave,” Chukwuma recounted. “They refused. With the help of Ogbagu-Ogume, we chased them out. But the very next moment after we left, they returned.”

The situation escalated beyond human intervention. According to Chukwuma, the community elders, having exhausted diplomatic channels, invoked the gods of the land, a sacred practice reserved for moments of existential threat. The deities, believed to protect the community’s territory from time immemorial, were called upon to deliver judgment.

“We have no other choice,” Chukwuma explained. “They have destroyed my cassava more than three times. Our subsistence farming, our very survival, is under threat. We are crying out to the world so people, the government, and the entire nation will know what is happening.”

The impact on the community’s food security has been severe. Families who depend entirely on what they harvest from their small farms have been unable to plant or harvest for almost four weeks. The community, which once boomed with the sounds of harvest celebrations, now grapples with hunger and uncertainty.

“Our prayer is that they leave. Our little subsistence farming is all we have. We are in danger. We need help,” he added.

The crisis has not gone entirely unnoticed by authorities. Mr. Matthew Ujene, Coordinator of the Delta North Livestock Management Committee, confirmed that the community had reached out to his office for intervention.

“The community raised an alarm,” Ujene told NDV. “We went with our team to investigate. While combing the bush, we discovered that one Muhammed had carried his cattle from nowhere and started terrorizing the bush.”

Ujene’s committee made repeated efforts to persuade the herdsman to vacate the area. When those attempts failed, officials took more direct action. “We destroyed the camp they built in the forest because it was that camp preventing the women from going to the farm,” Ujene revealed.

The matter has now been escalated to the Council Chairman, who has scheduled a security meeting for next week. But Ujene, speaking as a state representative, offered a blunt assessment of what he believes is needed.

“The only way my people can go to their farms is to implement the ban on open grazing,” he stated firmly. (Vanguard)