Delta community invokes deities to drive out herdsmen

•Onotu Uku of Onicha Ukwuani, Chief George Ogwu, (middle), invoking the deities while others watch.

…Villagers abandon farms, face hunger crisis

By Ochuko Akuopha

INDIGENES of Ike-Onicha, Onicha-Ukwuani community, Ndokwa West Local Government Area, Delta State, have turned to their gods, invoking divine vengeance on herdsmen they accuse of invading their ancestral lands and disrupting peaceful farming.

For nearly a month, the sound of the community’s women working the soil has been replaced by a creepy silence. Fear grips the village as armed herders reportedly established an unauthorised camp between Ike-Onicha and Ogbagu, transforming once-familiar farm paths into potential danger zones.