The Eke Town Union in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State has decried the rapidly growing rate of divorce occasioned by alleged rape from suspected Fulani herdsmen.
The men in the town reveal that they can’t sleep with the women who have once been defiled by the herdsmen because it is ‘scandalous’.
The town union’s President-General, Mr. Anthony Enu, spoke about the issue when he testified in the commission of inquiry into the killing of people in Nimbo community on Monday.
Enu said that the situation had become scandalous because no man would take in a woman who had been messed up by suspected herdsmen.
“The herdsmen are consistently raping our women and daughters infecting them with serious diseases thereby causing indirect divorce in our communities,” he said.
“If my wife is messed up by the herdsmen, why should I take her in again? This will mean that what is holding her will hold me.”
According to him, communities in the area have had their fair share of attack by the cattle breeders, adding that no fewer than 10 people had died as a result.
Enu recounted how three residents of Ogui village, Iloafonsi Ofokansi, Aniago Egbo and Josephat Maduweke, were killed in cold blood by suspected herdsmen in 2002.
He said:
“Mr. Isreal Eneje was working on his farm with his daughter when the cattle breeders took their animals to his farm. He protested and told them to go away and they ended up killing him.
“They have killed many of our people in the past and in each case we report to the police station at 9th Mile.
“The herdsmen are now assuming to be landlords and have been harassing our people. They should leave our communities in peace.”
