The Ogun State Government has said those relocating to Benin Republic as a result of the herdsmen attacks in the Yewa axis of the state are Eguns and Hohoris.
The state government confirmed that some residents of the area truly relocated to the neighbouring Benin Republic as a result of the recent killings, arson and kidnapping in Ogun West.
However, it was reported that the residents who relocated were not indigenes of Ogun State but Eguns and Hohoris, who were described as Beninoise who live in Yewa from time to time to lease farmlands.
The Chairman of the Ogun State Peace Keeping Committee on Farmers/Herders Conflict, Kayode Oladele, said this at a meeting of the Committee, held at the Obas’ Complex Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta on Monday.
Oladele said: “We have the Hohori and some Eguns who come from time to time to lease farmland in Yewaland, live with us and they have been doing that for years. So, when the problem and conflict started, the natural thing was for them to return to their home country. Therefore, many of the people that you are seeing are not actually the original indigenes of Yewa, they are the people from the other side of the border, who because of the crisis have moved to their country. So, it is not as if Yewa people have relocated, we don’t have a refugee crisis in Yewa, he stated.”
Oladele stressed that there was no crisis in Yewaland that could warrant its people becoming refugees in another country.
The committee chairman also said it did not tell the entire Yewa farmers not to go to the farm but that the advice was meant for the people of Asa only.
While claiming that the committee has no power to stop anybody from going to the farm, Oladele said it only advised the people of Asa that “they could hold on until everything was okay and that if they must go out to the farm, then, they must go in groups.
“That advice was meant for Asa village and not for the whole of Yewa,” he submitted.