Women from Otuasega community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State in the early hours of yesterday, staged a peaceful protest against what they described as the incessant invasion and destruction of their farmlands by herdsmen.
The aggrieved women, who fell trees and tied fresh palm frond to barricade the Otuasega end of the Edepie-Imiringi Road linking communities in Ogbia and Nembe councils to Yenagoa, the state capital, called for the urgent intervention of the state government to avert bloodshed in their community.
The development caused serious gridlock on the busy route, which is a gateway to the hundreds of oil fields in the East senatorial district of the state, forcing motorists to take a detour through the Okarki-Yenigwe axis to access the state capital.
The protesters were armed with placards with the inscriptions such as, “Our Women Are Not Safe in the Farms Anymore”, “Government of Bayelsa should protect our poor farmers from destruction by herdsmen”, “We don’t want herdsmen and their cows in Otuasega again to avoid trouble”, “Our crops and farmland are constantly destroyed by cow”,“We need government assistance, our women are longer safe,” among others.
They vowed not to vacate the route until the state government look into their demands.
The woman leader of Otuasega community, Mrs. Amiena Abiogu, who led the protest said they were forced to converge on the road to draw government attention to their plight.
