The Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), an Igbo youth organization, claims to have discovered illegal cattle grazing herdsmen in farmlands in Imo communities, causing difficulty for farmers.
The organization stated that no sort of open grazing will be permitted throughout Igboland while also asking for the arrest of some herders who they claim carry automatic rifles while grazing their cattle.
In a press release signed by the President General of the group, Mr. Goodluck Ibem, the coalition urged the Department of State Services (DSS) to move without delay and arrest the marauding herdsmen.
The group said: “The unlawful occupation and destruction of farmlands in Obasa Assa Community in the Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State by Fulani herdsmen with their cattles has brought great famine on the people as their crops have been eaten up by the cows.
“The cattle and their headers have also sent indigenes of the community packing from their ancestral homes and community.
“The issue of open grazing has been banned a long time ago, and anyone or group of persons still involved in such outdated practice is on a wicked mission of taking the ancestral lands of the community they are staying.”
According to the group, there’s more to the clandestine agenda than just cattle grazing, which is only a cover, especially because Fulani herdsmen in the village parade with AK-47 rifles and other hazardous weapons.
“We demand that the Department of State Services, DSS, should immediately arrest these terrorists with AK47 riffles parading as Fulani herdsmen in Obosa Assa community, and we demand for payment of damages for crops and farmlands destroyed by those cows.
