Scores of farmers in Umu-Ugwu Nwebe Orube in Omulor, Mgbuji, Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State, have cried out over the destruction of their farms worth millions of Naira by prominent indigenes of the community.
The farmers lamented that most pathetic aspect of their ordeal is that most of them obtained loans from various sources to buy crops for their farms and wondered how they would repay the loans in the face of their predicament.
The farmers, many of them elderly men and women, including widows, had in a bid to attract public attention to their ordeal, demonstrated in their community on Wednesday.
They accused Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, Enugu State Commissioner for Environment and others of allegedly sending people they referred as “thugs” to destroy their rice, yam, cassava, maize and other crops in their farms.
The angry village farmers also accused the President General of the community, Bar Chukwuma Ede among the people who conspired to destroy their farms.
According to them, the attackers of their farms were led by one Emeka Edeoga, aka, Yaro.
Lamenting their fate during the demonstration, the angry farmers marched round the community with placards, some with inscriptions as: “Govt save us; they want to kill us with hunger, they have driven us out of our livelihood”, among others. They called on the Enugu State government and Isi-Uzo council area authorities to come to their aid.
Their spokesman, Elder Silas Omi, said they were surprised to discovered that their labour of many months had just gone down the drain.
“On July 3, 2021, Saturday, we were in our farms, we saw people that had guns and they started shooting. We ran away and they began to destroy everything in the farm, rice, cassava, yam, maize, beans and others.They destroyed everything and they left nothing behind.
“The people behind our ordeal are S. S Edeoga, Hon. Chijoke Edeoga and Barr. Chukwuma Ede. Emeka Edeoga, alias, Yaro led the boys that destroyed our farms”, he alleged.
Continuing, Omi said “What we want the whole world to know is they are chasing us out of our livelihood. This is injustice.
“Some of us obtained loans to buy inputs and seeds for our farm including fertilizer. Some did their farms from money they saved from Isuzu thrift society,” .
Narrating her own ordeal, a widow and a mother of five, Mrs. Regina Ebe said the incident was painful and a big loss she cannot fathom.
“What they did to us is painful. Nobody will be happy to his or her farm destroyed for any reason. What shall we eat tomorrow and train our children with.
“Government is encouraging people to go into farming but these people are here destroying our farms. What do they want us to do”.
“We want the whole world to come and help us. I have five children and my husband is late. I don’t know how I am going to repay the loan I got for the farming. I am dying of hunger. I need help. What they destroyed in our farms is running into millions;of naira”, she lamented.
Efforts to get the traditional prime minister, Christian Nnaji to comment on the development proved abortive as he did not pick his call after a visit to his house where it was discovered that he was not on seat.
However, the Commissioner for Environment, Hon. Chijoke Edeoga washed off his hands in the said farms destruction, saying he did not know anything about it.
Edeoga wondered why he should get involved in destruction of farms of his people. He said the idea of linking his name was the plot of some people in the community tarnish his name and image.
“It is a smear campaign to tarnish my image. Ask them if they are the owners of the land or do they just go into a land and start farming. The matter does not concern me at all. It is a smear campaign. The story is everywhere in the social media and I am doing something to address it”, Edeoga said.
