Suspected herdsmen have attacked operatives of the Ondo State Security Network Agency, codenamed Amotekun Corps, at the Igoba community, in the Akure North Local Government Area of the state.
The herdsmen allegedly launched the attack on the Amotekun operatives while the latter enforced the anti-open grazing law operational in the state.
Precisely, it was learnt that the ugly incident occurred when the personnel of the corps arrested over 120 cows and their herders for grazing and destroying tomato farms worth millions of naira.
The spokesperson for the Amotekun Corps in the state, Jimoh Adeniken, who confirmed the attack in a statement on Saturday said the officers were acting on complaints from farmers in the Igoba and Osi communities about cows’ constant destruction of their farms.
Adeniken said one of the officers was hacked by the armed herdsmen during the attack.
The spokesperson disclosed that the herdsmen were armed with stones, bottles and cutlasses, which they used to attack the officers.
“Upon constant complaints from many farmers in the Igoba and Osi areas of Akure North Local Government since the 6th of May 2024 till date, the agency of Amotekun corps from the Headquarters in Alagbaka Akure, responded today dated 5th of July 2024, at about 1600 hours,” he said.
“During the operation, the corps surveillance team was led to the farms by the owners. On getting there, they met over one hundred and twenty cows ravaging the farms and there was nobody with the cows.
“Determined to enforce the anti-open grazing law of the state, the operatives of the Amotekun corps moved the cows out of the farms, and while passing by the Sango Area, at Igoba, along Ado Road in Akure, groups of armed Fulani herdsmen attacked the officers with stones, bottles, cutlasses, and guns.”
According to Adeniken, the officers had to quickly retreat to base on the order from the Command, as the attackers continued throwing stones and bottles till the Amotekun operatives escaped to the main road.
He added the state government will continue to pursue with vigour, through lawful means, to ensure strict compliance of the law to ensure that the efforts of farmers would not be truncated through destruction of their farmlands by herders and their cows.
Fidelis David in Akure
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