Trouble brews, as MASSOB gives herdsmen 48 hours to quit Enugu community

Herdsmen in Ogboli-Ohaja community in Augwu Local Government Area of Enugu state have been issued a 48-hour notice to quit the community.

The Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), while handing down the quit order on Tuesday said whatever happens if the herdsmen fail to leave should not be blamed on them.

This is coming on the heels of an alleged attack on one Kenneth Ude by herdsmen while working on his farm on Monday.

The 32-year-old Ude was said to be working on his cassava farm when the herders led their cattle to graze at the place.

The herders were said to have attacked him with machetes when he attempted to stop them, leaving him for dead.

He was however, later rescued and rushed to the Jideofor Medical Hospital, in Auwgu, fuelling tension as some young men combed the bush in search of the fleeing herdsmen.

The Deputy National Leader of MASSOB, Chief Ikechukwu Ekwe, while addressing journalists on Tuesday, said the group would no longer tolerate killing of innocent people by herdsmen in the area.

“We will fish them out wherever they may be in this community after 48 hours and handle them our own way. No more will we allow our people to be subjected to this level of maltreatment on their own soil. I do not think it is a crime for one to go to his farm,” he said

According to Ekwe, farmlands had been destroyed in the area by herders. He also stressed that attempts to get authorities to address the situation had proved abortive