Home Crime Attacked, Raped By Herdsmen — Oyo Women Recount Ordeal

Attacked, Raped By Herdsmen — Oyo Women Recount Ordeal

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By Tope Omogbolagun

Soaked in pain, Sola managed to mumble a few words while struggling to muffle tears forming in her eyes as she narrated her experience at the hands of killer herders who raped her.

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Eighteen-year-old Sola recalled how she was deflowered on her parents’ farm in the presence of her siblings.

She said, “My siblings and I went to work on the farm that day. It was harvest season and we decided to assist our parents. Around 4 pm, when we were completing the day’s work, a Fulani herder came to us to beg for water.”

Sola said such a request from herders was not new to her whenever they were on the farm, but unknown to her the kindness would make her sad.

She added, “We gave him water, he drank, thanked us and left. We continued our work not knowing that he had evil plans. A few minutes later, he returned to request more water. I was surprised but we obliged his request. Immediately we gave him water, we left the farm.

“We didn’t know that he didn’t leave but hid somewhere to follow us. I was behind while my siblings were in front. Suddenly, somebody hit me with an object at the back. Before I knew what was going on, he pounced on me and ripped off my clothes.  My siblings ran away to get help from the village. But before help could come, he had molested me sexually and fled.’’

Sola who wept as she told her story said she wished she was never on the farm that day. According to her, the criminal herder was later caught but nothing happened to him and her virginity was gone.

She added that the herder was taken to a police station in the community and after some weeks, the case was withdrawn and everything ended. “Some of the elders in the Fulani community intervened and the case was withdrawn,’’ he stated.

Sola is one of the women raped by killer herders who engaged in several atrocious acts in the Igangan community in the Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State.

Ibarapa North is a council area created in 1996 from the old Ifeloju local government. Its headquarters is in Ayete. Tapa is one of the towns in the LG.

Igangan is known for its vast farmlands and farming is the indigenes’ occupation. They grow crops such as cassava, cocoa and cashew, among others.

The community has been in the news lately after a Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo, otherwise called Sunday Igboho, sacked the Fulani community in the area after herders were accused of perpetrating criminal acts such as killings, raping and abductions in the community and its environs.

Different victims, same tactics

A woman in her mid-sixties identified only as Mrs Victoria has also been sexually abused by a herder. It’s double jeopardy for her as her daughter was also a victim. About six months after her brutal experience, her 23-year-old daughter was also brutally raped by a criminal herder.  Victoria told our correspondent that she was raped by a Fulani on her farm. She further stated that the herder also inflicted machete cuts on her. Like Sola, Victoria was also raped after obliging the request of the herdsmen who asked for water.

She said, “I went to the farm that day around 3 pm. Later, a Fulani man came to beg me for water and I gave him and faced my work for the day. I was with some children helping on the farm. We were still working when he returned and asked for water again. Then I became suspicious. I told him to leave and before I could walk away, he hit me with a machete.

“The children with me that day ran after seeing what happened and I also tried to run but it was in vain. He overpowered me and had his way with me.  As the children ran, they kept shouting, ‘won ti pa mama o’ (Mama has been killed).  My daughter who heard the news rushed to the farm. But the herder had run away before she arrived.”

Victoria said the last she knew of the incident was when she opened her eyes in a hospital.

She added, “They picked me off from the floor and took me to a hospital because I was exhausted and blood was gushing out of my injured hands. I was treated at the hospital.  We didn’t see the Fulani man and I couldn’t recognise him because of the shock.  I am grateful that it was my daughter that the girl ran into. She was the one who called for help.

“I was not suspicious if not I would have figured out that he didn’t want water and that he wanted to attack me. He only returned after the first water request to be sure no adult was around. ”

Victoria said her daughter who also suffered sexual molestation by the herders wasn’t willing to talk to our correspondent despite her persuasion to do so.

She added, “Almost a year after my experience, my daughter was also raped by a Fulani on the farm. I told her to talk to you but she doesn’t want to talk about it. There are many people like her in the community who are unwilling to talk about the incidents.”

The names and identities of the women have been protected to not expose them to stigmatisation.

It’s the same for Mrs Abosede, another mother of five who was raped by one of the herders in the community. She lamented that fending for a living had become a Herculean task as she couldn’t go to her farm for fear of being attacked.

Abosede who was fuming during the interview said she had been home for about eight months, adding that the only time she summoned courage to go to her farms to harvest crops she went with her husband and some other persons.

She stated, “The day I went to the farm with my husband and others to harvest some cassava to eat with my family, the moment I got to the spot where the molestation took place, the incident flashed back. It was so forceful that I collapsed and was resuscitated back to life with water and some herb leaves.’’

Abosede noted that women in the community were scared of going to their farms because of the killer herdsmen accused of being behind the kidnapping and raping in the communities.

She stated, “The attack on me happened in the afternoon on my cashew farm. They are wicked people. They have become a terror to us on our lands. I can’t explain the height of their wickedness. I was harvesting cashew that day and we took a break to boil some yam to eat. While we were boiling the yam, a Fulani man came and asked me for water. I didn’t know him but because there are many of them in the area, I gave him water. I didn’t know that it’s their usual method.”

For another victim of rape by killer herdsmen, Mrs Solape, her survival and escape were attributed to the  ‘mercy of God.’

She added, “I went to my farm at Olowoyo area of Agbarigbari that day when the incident occurred. In fact, I thought I was dead after the attack.

“While I was on the farm, the young Fulani man passed, greeted me and went his way. Not too long after I greeted him, he returned and requested water. In my mind, I thought he was being too shy to ask for water and that was why he went away earlier. I did know he had an evil intention against me.

“I turned my back to get him water. By the time I turned to give him water, he held a machete in his hand.  He didn’t allow me to talk before he used it on me twice.’’

Saying the incident drained her psychologically, Solape added, “God loves me,” as she burst into uncontrollable tears.

Solape further said that immediately the herder used the machete on her, she went on all fours as blood spilt out.

“In that state, the evil herder still raped me,’’ he said

She added, “It was my shout of pain that attracted a man who came around. His farm is next to mine. The farms are big so it took some time for him to locate me. The herder left quickly and left me in a pool of my blood.

“My neighbours and some people tried to look for him but their search was in vain. He had fled. Perhaps, he had a hideout around because it was a thorough search. While some searched for him, others took me to a hospital. I spent a week there before I was discharged.’’

Victims’ hidden fears, trauma

Solape told our correspondent that the trauma and fear arising from her experience with the rapist left her scarred for life.

According to her, the incident makes her fear both day and night including having nightmares.

She stated, “After the police waded in, the issue was resolved after pleas from the Fulani community. I haven’t got over it. The experience never left me. I am always living in panic. I could neither go anywhere alone nor sleep well at night. The scene keeps replaying in my memory. I would sleep and dream of someone chasing and wanting to rape me.

“I couldn’t even go to the farm. I just started going to the farm around December last year and I always went with adults. It was a tough time for me. I screamed many times in my sleep. Thankfully, my parents and some other community members were there for me. I got a lot of support from people. But the unfortunate incident took a toll on me.”

Also, Abosede said the incident took away her courage. She said, “I couldn’t even talk to anyone for a long time. I was unusually moody for a long time. I couldn’t tell people around apart from my husband, what happened to me. I only said a Fulani attacked me.”

For Victoria, she was emotionally and physically drained by the incident, noting that it made her stay in the hospital for a week. She added that pains from the cuts had refused to go, saying she couldn’t open up to people that she was raped for fear of stigmatisation.

She said, “I was ashamed to tell people that I was raped. It was only my husband, children and some elders in the community that knew. I didn’t want people to stigmatise me. I just started going to the farm in January 2021.

“Farming is our main occupation and means of survival but it’s unfortunate that our men too cannot go to the farm. Women can get raped and men killed by killer herders. I do not know their intention in doing what they did to me because I am in my late fifties.’’

Talking about her current state, Solape said her days at the hospital and outside had been filled with both emotional and physical pain.

“The pain from the cut was excruciating like the pain in my heart. Even when I got home, I became scared of a sexual encounter with my husband. I lived in panic. Every little sound sent me into a state of shock. It was emotionally draining for my spouse. Dreams, screams and other things went on for over six months. Thankfully, my husband showed understanding throughout the period,” she added.

Solape said the effect of the incident was fresh in her memory and wasn’t ready to start farming anytime soon.

She stated, “I live outside Igangan, the farm was my father’s inheritance and I am the only one in the country supervising the farm. My husband is the one who supervises the workers and we make sure one person isn’t at the farm alone either male or female.  As for me, I haven’t stepped on the farm for now and I am not sure I am going back there except if the Fulani are no longer in Igangan. But as long as they are still there, I cannot go there.’’

Psychologist, security expert advise abused women

A psychologist at the University of Lagos, Prof. Oni Fagboungbe, described as a physiological need which some people could go to any length to have.

The psychologist said that rape could bring a traumatic experience which one could only recover from through help from counsellors or therapists.

He stated, “One thing about a traumatic experience is that it has a way of manifesting later in adult days.  It could lead to sexual prejudice; that is not easily excited especially when the victim experiences a lot of pain during the act. Such a person might hate sex or the opposite sex.

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