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The menace confronting the people of Agogo with regard to the teeming presence of the nomadic cattle-rearing Fulanis on their land is a great cause for national concern. The problem which has, and continues to, culminate in deaths, rapes of married women, and deliberate arsonous destruction of farms, to the citizens of Agogo, should not be seen as theirs and theirs alone, to deal with. It should not be particularised to the land and the people of Agogo. However, it must be seen as a great menace of national concern, if not a verminous ticking time bomb to be sorted without further hesitation or else, it will explode with dastardly consequences to the entire nation.
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Why should they be held not only as hostages on their own land but also, be killed, raped and beaten up with impunity, while the government meant to protect them, guarantee their safety and security, give a deaf ear to their desperate or tearful call for help?
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Let the following be known to both the natives of Agogo and the entire citizens of the country.
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1. That the people of Agogo in the face of the never-ending but rather intensifying lethal menace, have the right to defend themselves and their land in any way possible regardless of what form or shape it shall take.
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2. That all responsible and duty-bound Ghanaians aspiring to ensure the safety, oneness and harmonious co-existence of all tribes and persons in Ghana must have their hands on deck to uproot the exterminable cancerous threat posed by the Fulanis to the law-abiding and peace-loving people of Agogo.
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3. That the government must be compelled to not shun her duty to the people of Agogo but fulfils her obligations to them as enshrined in the Constitution – to guarantee protection and human rights to all citizens of Ghana.
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Those of us who had lived, and continue to live, in villages, and do go to farm, can attest to certain actions of snakes that will make you dumbfounded. We do observe that when a snake e.g. a black cobra sees a human being, it begins to slither away at great speed. This is because it is scared. However, if you begin to obstruct it or chase it with intention to harm it or kill it, once it senses threatened, it will muster courage, turns around to face you, spits into your eyes or chases you to bite you. It will surely defend itself by attacking you in whatever way it feels convenient – spit into your eyes to cause you instant blindness or bite you to pump lethal venom into your body.
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When you force a dog or a cat into a tight corner, it springs into action. It will make attempts to free itself by attacking you. You will end up running away for the dog or cat to regain their freedom.
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The comparatively less intelligent animals have the instinct to fight to liberate themselves from perceived harmful situations, how much more the superior intelligent human beings? Whosoever will, should try it and will see how cats and dogs, although pets, do defend themselves when they are forced into tight corners and sense danger to their lives.
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The late Russian President, Boris Yeltsin was very right when he said, "Every great nation on earth was built on the sweat and the blood of its people". This goes to explain that the people of every known great nation had to toil hard, wipe sweat off their forehead and, or had to fight both internal and external enemies to regain their freedom or to expand their territory hence becoming the great nations that we see today.
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Our forefathers fought physical and mental wars to acquire the lands that they bequeathed to us.
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By the above, I mean to tell the people of Agogo to learn lessons from the sterling attitudes of the mentioned animals when under threat, the people of the great nations and our forefathers as cited, in their bid to extricate themselves from the ongoing Fulani menace.
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Nobody can help them better than they can help themselves. However, I am ready to lend my support to any serious cause of action they will take aimed at liberating themselves from the machismo, but criminal attitudes of the nomadic Fulanis.
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The Fulanis are doing their cattle rearing business for the purpose of raising income to better their socio-economic circumstances. Why should their work and set goals be allowed to cause the deaths of innocent people or culminate in the raping of married women and the intentional destruction of the farms belonging to law-abiding citizens of Agogo and its environs?
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The very people elected to ensure the safety, security and health of the citizens of Ghana, and by extension the people of Agogo, are themselves the owners of the cattle of which the Fulanis are only herdsmen. How will they help the people of Agogo to drive these Fulanis turned audacious killers away? They won't. Despite the great hue and cry about the danger they present to the people, the government and those powers that be, are still supportive of them.
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Who has been providing them with the probably AK47 Assault rifles they have been using to gun down the people they have so far killed? You ask yourself, Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Reader.
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I find the behaviour of the Ashanti Regional Police Commander DCOP Nathan Kofi Boakye with regards to the Agogo issue a bit jumpy. Barely had the Agogo people issued a press statement declaring their bold intention to resort to self-defence to safe themselves from the criminal Fulanis should the government continue to look on with mouth ajar when DCOP Kofi Boakye threatened to arrest the Agogo MP and Ernest Owusu Bempa, both dynamic citizens of Agogo.
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He was going to arrest them for encouraging the citizens of Agogo to take the defence of themselves into their own hands. This is outrageous! Does Kofi Boakye not have eyes to see or ears to hear what the Fulanis are doing to the people of Agogo? He should fell ashamed of himself; sitting down with his hands folded around the chest while strangers kill innocent citizens of Ghana.
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No wonder that Nigerians, both in Africa and overseas and in workplaces do not have an iota of respect for Ghanaians. They see Ghanaians as stupid, weak and unable to defend themselves when unlawfully being maltreated. Going by the stance taken by DCOP Kofi Boakye while native Ghanaians are being killed unlawfully, is a Nigerian not absolutely right to insult the intelligence of the Ghanaian?
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Look at how the Chinese in Ghana have wreaked, and continue to wreak, havoc, on the lives of some Ghanaians and our ecological system. They are destroying all our water bodies and lands in search of mineral resources in a very aggressive, selfish and inconsiderate manner, yet our security forces and the incompetent and visionless government are supportive of their activities. Their actions are of future disastrous consequences to Ghana as a nation, and Ghanaians as a people.
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What can I do to help the people of Agogo in their dire need? Nothing? Oh, absolutely no! If anyone from Agogo can scan to me the court verdict granting them permission to remove the Fulanis from the Agogo land and other relevant evidential documents, I shall dispatch copies along with a letter to reputable international organisations, governments and Presidents to highlight the problem to them while at the same time seek their assistance to get President Mahama to deal decisively with the obnoxious situation.
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I can be reached on rcksnadofo@yahoo.co.uk
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Rockson Adofo
