Herdsmen Overrun Farm Settlements, Occupy Homes, Schools In Enugu’s Eha-Amufu Amid Government Silence

A devastating trail of destruction and displacement has been left in the wake of relentless attacks by assailants suspected to be herdsmen on farm settlements in Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State, for years.

No fewer than 44 farm settlements, known as 'Ndiagu', have been overrun, with residents forced to flee their homes and seek shelter in neighbouring communities. The affected communities include Abor Ishala, Mgbuji, Agu-Amede, Eha-Agu, and Umuhu.

The latest and most populated farm settlement to come under attack by marauding herdsmen was Ndiagu Amofia village in Umuhu Eha-Amufu autonomous community on February 28. Residents were forced to flee their homes and seek shelter in neighbouring communities.

In Abor, no fewer than nine farm settlements were overrun by the militias, who sacked the residents and took over their homes with their families.

The affected settlements in Abor are Ogomungo, Ngele-Akpankpa, Okwum, Agerie, Ezegwu-Abor, Ashinu, Ovokpo, Mgbede-Abor, and Ngele-Acho. In Umujoovu village, four farm settlements were sacked: Mgbede, Edu, Nditsion, and Onuashinu.

In Agu-Amede autonomous community, nine farm settlements were overrun and taken over by the assailants. The settlements are Okpokwu, Uzamuado, Oduba-uzame, Onuchukwu, Efuakpa, Ogeriaba, Okpurugwu, Iyiasa, and Ikpakpara.

In the Eha-Agu autonomous community, three farm settlements were sacked, with residents completely displaced and denied access to their homes and palm plantations. The settlements are Odenigbo, Ashinu, and Isu.

In the Mgbuji autonomous community, 18 farm settlements were sacked, with residents seeking shelter in the Enugu metropolis and with family relations in other safe communities. The community settlements are completely occupied by marauding herdsmen.

The community settlements are completely occupied by marauding herdsmen are - "Okpokwu, Okpurugwu, Obodomba, Uloumuorgirie, Ugwuoka, Ngele-Aguiyi, Ogbete-Obibi, Ogbete-Umulo, Agerie, Unuanu, Obodo-Ede, Ukwuakwa, Unomgbede, Iyiasa, Onu-Ashinu, Ubi, Ezegwu, Omulo."

In Umuhu Eha-Amufu autonomous community, the last farm settlement sacked is "Ndiagu Amofia".

According to SaharaReporters' investigation, the attacks on the communities, which share boundaries with communities in Benue State, started in 2002. However, the vicious attacks and land-grabbing intensified in 2020 during President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.

Chief Obeagu Odoh, a kinsman of the Chairman of Isi-Uzu LGA, told SaharaReporters that the residents were sacked from their homes and have not been resettled. 

"Some are living in Enugu, some hired houses in the camp, while some are squatting with relations.

"All the farm settlements in our community, nobody goes there. If you dare, it is either you are killed or kidnapped for ransom or you escape with injuries," another resident, Chigbo Okibe, told SaharaReporters.

He observed that December 2024 marked the first time Christmas had been celebrated in Eha-Ohala since 2021.

"Getting to a year now, three people from Abor who went to harvest their crops at the farm settlements have not been found," he revealed, adding that the matter was promptly reported to the Enugu State Police Command. "Yet as we speak, nobody has been has been held accountable. The herdsmen are currently occupying abandoned homes, and the security agencies are not doing anything to return the people to their homes." 

Regarding government intervention, he said, "There's none." For our own side of Abor and Umujoovu, I have not seen any government intervention. The interventions we have received so far were primarily during the Mgbuji crisis when it was at its peak. At the end of the day, the government came and started building roads leading to some of their settlements.”

"There was a time the government sited Army barracks in the same Mgbuji when they deployed soldiers to Ogbete Mgbuji, but unfortunately, the soldiers have been withdrawn. Again, from that location to Abor is very far away," Okibe narrated.

According to him, there's no presence of government in the Eha-Ohala autonomous community, which comprises - Abor and Umujoovu. 

If you follow that vast portion of land, you will arrive in Benue State. So we only have a boundary with Benue State. I don't know the reason why the Fulani people have refused to go. Instead of leaving that area, they invite more people to come," he said.

Lamenting the development, a woman leader, Mrs Chinyere Odoebe, said that none of the affected communities knew what to do again.

She said, “These are the challenges we have been facing all this while because none of our communities know what to do again. We are not equipped with such weapons they're carrying, so how can we combat people with AK-47 rifles? It is only the hunters and local vigilantes that are securing the community. What they have are Dane guns. And when the security agencies see you with Dane guns, you are accused of carrying weapons, but when Fulani herdsmen attack, you will not see them."

Showing SaharaReporters some houses lying desolate that occupants and their family members had been killed, Mrs Odoebe lamented: "The security agents only surface to carry corpses after attacks.”

"The dangerous thing is that the Fulani people are planning to come and take over the entire Eha-Amufu especially - Agu-made, Eha-Ohala comprising Abor Ishala and Mgbuji autonomous communities, Eha-Agu and some parts of Umuhu autonomous communities," she said, adding that the implications will be dire. "As I am talking to you now, Abor people are on the run, and Umujoovu have started running their own too; likewise, Mgbuji, the entire Eha-Amufu is gone.” 

Unfortunately, she said, because of politics, some people go to the media to report that nothing is happening.

"But that is not the truth. It is not only because of fear. If you watched what happened in Nkalaha Community in Ebonyi State, which is our neighbouring community, that incident aggravated our people's fear because they wouldn't know when they would come," she explained.

Mrs. Angela Ogenyi informed SaharaReporters that the death toll exceeded 180 before the recent killings. She highlighted the persistent danger, noting that individuals are still being killed or injured while working on their farms, even when it seems that peace has been restored.

She said, "Last time we went to the State CID and reported that two of our people were missing, and up till now, they have not returned. We have pictures of all these things, but in the end, some people will say that nothing is happening. That everywhere is calm. 

“I don't know whether they're deceiving themselves or they're deceiving the government so that government will not come and to help. Those who are supposed to be reporting what is going on are the ones saying that nothing is happening. Now, you did not place anything on the ground, then you are telling people to return. 

"When they brought police to the community, the operatives refused to go to the places where the invaders have sacked the people from their homes in the settlements. The school in Ogbete where I schooled, which former Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi through Chijioke Edeoga reconstructed, these Fulani marauders still came and burned it. 

“That school is where Mgbuji people from farm settlements, Abor people from farm settlements, and Umujoovu people from farm settlements come to school. 

"Fulani herdsmen have sacked everybody in those places, yet they still pursued us to Ndiuno Eha-Amufu homes. Hunger is killing people. Before, it was easy; you would be in the town, and your parents were at home farming, and you would be sending them some money to support them, but now they are not doing anything, you have to cater for their needs - you send money for food and everything and the worst thing is that they don't allow them to even stay in their place. 

"Then where do they run to? Every time, they claim that their cows were killed, but when you cultivate crops, they will come and destroy everything. If you cultivate cassava, they will come, uproot and drop for their cows to feed on; the same thing happens if you cultivate yam. 

“If it is rice you cultivate, that one is rice and salad for them. There is trouble. It is a serious issue on our side!"

Chibuzo Olinya, one of the affected residents in the farm settlements, revealed how herdsmen have systematically dismantled and occupied their area. 

Olinya said, " The Fulani herdsmen have either burned down all the houses in those areas or removed their roofing sheets. They stripped the roof off the Catholic Church in those settlements, as well as the roofs of the primary schools and most of the houses in the area.

"They are living in some of the houses that they didn't destroy. So their strategy is to ensure that the person didn't come back. Some of our people who gathered the courage to go there saw Fulani women already occupying their homes, and when they told them that the houses belonged to them, those women ran and alerted their men. In seconds, they surrounded those our people with AK-47 rifles when we thought that peace had returned. 

“It is the Fulani herdsmen that are pursuing people; there's no other thing. I don't know whether it is a planned deal with the Benue people because I don't know the reason for all these things because we don't have boundaries with Fulani people; only the Benue people have boundaries. 

"I don't know the reason Fulani people will be coming to kill our people. When we were young, Fulani herdsmen came to graze in our place, but those ones were peaceful, and they didn't destroy people's things. If they met you where you were farming, they would ask for water, and if you had, you give them. But I don’t know where this crop of Fulani herders came from?"

Attempts by SaharaReporters to obtain a response from the Enugu State Police Command regarding the reported sacking of farm settlements in Eha-Amufu by marauding herdsmen were unsuccessful. The Command's spokesperson, SP Daniel Ndukwe, neither answered calls nor responded to a text message seeking his comment.

Similarly, the state government remained silent on the incident, as efforts to reach Governor Peter Mbah were unsuccessful, with his media office declining to comment.