Falae: Herdsmen burn my farm annually so fresh grass can grow for their cattle

Olu Falae, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), says herdsmen attack his farmland every year.

Falae said this when a delegation from the Ondo state government visited him to assess the damage done on his farm burnt last week.

Although the police said an investigation to unravel those behind the attack is still ongoing, Falae said it was carried out by herdsmen.

He said the attack on the farm located at Ilado in Akure north local government area of Ondo has become an annual ritual.

“I don’t know why herdsmen have been attacking my farm. They did it last year; they did the same the year before the last,” Falae said.

“That is how they burn it every year so that fresh grass can come out for their cattle to eat.

“They attack my oil palm cultivation. The mature oil palm trees that have been bearing fruits to make palm oil have been burnt down.”

The former presidential candidate said there is there is no rational reason for the “incessant” attacks on his farm.

He said: “The intention is what worries me, that there is a group of Nigerians who want deliberately destroy the belongings of other Nigerians. The destruction does not, in my view, enhance their own well-being at all.

“If they drive the cows to eat my maize, it destroys my own asset – it enhances their own assets; they are using me to subsidise their own cows. That is bad.”

Commenting on the incident, Gbenga Adeyanju, the state commissioner of police, said the police will fish out the perpetrators of the attack.

“Whatever it is, we will get to the root of it. The bushes have been burnt, what led to the bushes being burnt is what we are going to look at,” he said.