By Olufemi Olaniyi

Olumide is a son of retired school principal, Mr Ojedokun Ogunmodede, who was recently attacked by a Fulani herdsman on his farm in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State. The son tells OLUFEMI OLANIYI about his father’s close shave with death

When did your father retire as a school principal and what prompted him to go into farming?

He retired as a school principal in 2016. He retired at Oke-Ako High School, Igangan and he faced farming. He didn’t start farming after retirement, he had been farming since I was a child and we used to go to his cocoa plantation to help him while I was growing up. He just goes to the farm now to supervise activities there. He doesn’t engage in planting and he doesn’t weed.

He was said to have been attacked recently by some herdsman. When and where did it happen?

He went to his farm where he planted yam. A herder brought his cows to the farm and he prevented the cows from grazing on his farm. The herder did not argue, he went back with his animals, unknown to my dad that the herdsman had taken the cows to the hill where my father was drying cassava. Somebody saw that the herder had taken his cows to where the cassava was being dried and rushed to tell my dad that the cows had eaten up everything.

My dad and other persons who were on the farm with him spread out to search for the herder. They went in different directions but while my dad was going, he was not aware that the herder had hidden in a bush. The herder pounced on him and started attacking him.  He wanted to cut my dad’s head but he used his hands to protect his head and that was how he almost cut off his hands.

Were your dad’s two hands affected?

Yes. The herder inflicted severe machete cuts on his two hands and the left hand was badly cut. It almost cut off. My dad started shouting and the herder, having realised that there were other people around, fled into the bush. The others came around and called one of our relatives who brought a motorcycle and he took my dad straight to the police station in Igangan.

What happened at the police station?

The policemen saw him and they were shocked. They asked someone to take my dad to the hospital immediately.

The police said the attack on your dad was a reprisal…

That assertion is miles away from the truth. It is unfortunate that somebody will sit in his office hundreds of kilometres away and be saying that. My dad is 60 years old and he’s a retired school principal for that matter. Who did he attack? Where and when did he attack the person? The PPRO should be specific; he cannot just say something he knew nothing about. What he said is far from being correct and no one should believe that.

The police came and asked my dad some questions yesterday (April 6) and he was very angry that they could be concocting such a lie against him. Who did he attack? He was not known for that in his younger days. Are the police now saying my dad has suddenly become a hoodlum and he’s attacking people everywhere? We had to calm my dad down when he heard the police statement.

The police in Igangan did not do anything about the case until Saturday when Agro Rangers came and that was when they started going about. They would have arrested the suspect if they had swung into action on Friday when the incident happened.  They just sat under the tree at Igangan and they started going about after the herder had escaped.

Did they arrest anybody?

They said they arrested a relative of the herder and one Yoruba person who they saw at the scene.

Will your dad be able to use his two hands again?

Only God and the doctors can tell. He was taken in for surgery and we are praying that things will be fine. He took three pints of blood and we stationed somebody at a blood bank in case there was a need for more blood transfusion. We didn’t want to take chances and we are praying and hoping that he will be fine. His left hand was badly cut.

How is your mum taking it?

We are grateful to God because we still have reasons to thank God. If his attacker had cut his head, he might have died. The father of Dr Fatai Aborode, who was killed in a similar attack, said his son would probably have lived if he had been rescued immediately after he was attacked.  He said that when he came to visit my dad in the hospital. The two attacks were similar but we thank God that my dad is alive.

Why do you think this problem of herdsmen attacks still linger in Ibarapa?

The problem is a serious one. It is even more serious because some Yoruba persons are sabotaging the efforts of those who want the problems to end. It is unfortunate. These herdsmen have informants among the indigenes and that is why it has been difficult to end the menace.

Originally published at Punch