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The 95-year-old Pa Uhurhemue Erhiahwe, the traditional leader of the Egbo-Kokori community in Delta State’s Ethiope East Local Government Area, has bravely stood up to intimidation and encroachment by telling the story of how he turned down a large bribe from Fulani herdsmen who wanted to use community farmlands.

The revered elder told Vanguard’s Niger Delta Voice (NDV) that the herders came to him in January offering him N10 million in cash and cows as a present in an attempt to obtain settlement rights.

According to him, the community had suffered enough—farmlands destroyed, women purportedly attacked in the bushes, and locals hunted by weapon-wielding herdsmen.

“We are farmers. That is our only source of survival. They destroy our crops daily,” he lamented.

Pa Erhiahwe insisted on not sacrificing his people’s future for his own benefit. The community reportedly sought police involvement after the herders allegedly tried to push their way into the farmlands after he rejected them. The herders agreed to leave the region in April of last year after officers from the Isiokolo Police Division mediated an undertaking.

But when the herders returned and petitioned the Ughelli Police Area Command about missing cattle—an accusation Pa Erhiahwe maintains is untrue and retaliatory—tensions erupted once more.

“As the community leader, they approached me to bribe me with cows and N10 million, but I refused and told them that this is our home; I cannot, because of greed, destroy it.“

“I said that even if I am given a billion naira, I won’t accept it because where you are staying is where you must repair. After I refused, they tried to use force, and we insisted they must leave. After they left, they returned yet again.“

“We went to the police in Isiokolo community because we thought it was time to involve them, and they wrote an undertaking to leave in April of last year.“

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