Suspected Herdsmen Attack Amotekun Officers In Ondo

Suspected herdsmen have attacked and injured some officers of the Ondo State Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun in Akure, the state capital.

LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that the incident occurred on Friday after Amotekun corps arrested some cows which allegedly destroyed farmlands in Osi and Igboba Communities in the North local government area of the state.

It was further learnt that after arresting cows numbering about 120, the Corps was taking the arrested cows to the state headquarters of the Amotekun Command in Akure when the herders accosted them on the Akure-Ado expressway and attacked them.

A source told our correspondent that, “As they were taking the arrested cows to Amotekun headquarters in Akure, on reaching the Sango area (of Akure)  the herders came out with dangerous weapons and attacked the officers to prevent them from taking the cows away.”

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Ondo Amotekun, Jimoh Adeniken, confirmed the incident.

Adeniken disclosed that, “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.

“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.

“Thereafter, the corps retreated based on the order from the state Headquarters of the Amotekun corps.’’