Following unbridled grazing activities leading to wanton destruction of farmland, kidnap and sundry nefarious perpetrations, the Itapaji Progressives Union (IPU) has issued quit notice to herders operating in and around the town.
Rising from an emergency meeting with the traditional council of the town, led by the Olu of Itapaji, Oba AbdulKareem Adebanjo, and the deputy, High Chief Yisa Olaoye (Oluketu of Itapaji Ekiti), it was resolved that all cattle dealers in the town should close the business, to augment the ongoing moves by the Ekiti State government to enthrone security in the zone as well as boost agricultural yields.
To this effect, all sons and daughters of the town doing cattle business in collaboration with the Fulani herders have been mandated to wind up the business forthwith to ensure tranquility reign in the town.
The Itapaji monarch, Oba Adebanjo, therefore pleaded with his subjects to join hands with the officials of the IPU to ensure the town is rid of cattle trade, noting that the business has brought nothing but anguish and tales of woe into the community.
He noted that even as he is not having a single cow to his name, some indigenes of the town are still in the trade, employing Fulani herders to look after their cattle.
It will be recalled that there was a viral video recently in which the Itapaji monarch was accused of harbouring a large number of ‘Bororo’ (nomadic Fulani) in the community.
Reacting, the spokesman of the IPU, Otunba Gboyega Adeoye, said the claims in the video was “a fractured work of a lazy social media influencer, who did a shoddy information job by rushing to report a one-legged rumour, with no attempt made to confirm her claims from the accused.”
“Indeed, there are farmers from Niger State in our community. They came into the town on the invitation of individual families that gave them land. Some of these farmers have been dwelling here for up to ten years and thus far, we have been co-habiting peacefully,” Adeoye said.
Buttressing, Oba Adebanjo who said the news came to him as a rude shock said though there were migrants from diverse tribe in the community, adequate security measure had been taken by the Oba in council to ensure that each migrant could be identified to where they migrated from.
“When the issue of insecurity was becoming worrisome, what I did was to invite every migrant, which include the Hausa, Ibira, Basha, Tiv etc, to fill an identification form which detailed their names, occupation, age, the town/villages and local government areas they migrated from. This information were collated and handed over to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), in Ikole Ekiti, to be forwarded to the State Commissioner of Police,” he explained.
He however said the presence of the Hausa migrants would terminate at the end of this year’s harvest season, as the community has resolved not to harbor such practice in view of the sensitive security situation of the moment.
The IPU therefore called on all indigenes of the community to cooperate with the joint resolutions to ensure sanity is brought back into the land
