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Rivers State Women Protest Alleged Rape And Harassment From Cattle Rearers
The women marched to the Rumuji Police Station and then to the palace of the paramount ruler, where they voiced their complaints while carrying banners with various inscriptions.
They bemoaned how their crops had been eaten by cows, leaving them and their family in “hunger.”
Joy Obisike, the woman leader of the community, appealed to the chairman of the local government, Governor Nyesom Wike, President Muhammadu Buhari, and security personnel to warn the herders to “steer clear” of their farmland.
She said, “I led this protest to the police station this morning to inform them that herdsmen have been coming to our farmland to destroy our crops.
“For now, there is no means to feed because we completely rely on our farm produce. So, we want them (police) to tell the herdsmen not to enter our farmlands again.”
The women made threats to utilize any means to protect their crops and themselves.
Salome Amakanwo, another female community leader in Evekwu, claimed that the herders, who “use guns and dangerous weapons,” regularly threaten their lives and that their women were “raped at gunpoint.”
She said, “Now, we are saying our problem because cows have eaten all the crops we planted. The solution now is to tell them to stop coming into our community.
“Even, sometimes we go to the farm and the next thing we see are herdsmen. They have raped some of our women. They threaten to shoot or dagger us if we talk.”
The women demanded immediate action from the security authorities and all levels of the government to protect people from impending famine and crisis.
Addressing the demonstrators, a police officer from the Rumuji Police Station suggested that they take their grievances to the secretariat of the local government council for a quick resolution.
