By David Akinadewo-Adekahunsi
Not less than six persons have been killed by gunmen in latest attacks unleashed on two communities in the Ose local government area of Ondo state.
The gunmen, said to be suspected armed herders unleashed mayhem on their victims who were mainly farmers, traders and passengers during the coordinated attacks in Arimogija and Molege communities.
The villagers, who were shocked by the mode of attacks, labelled the suspected armed herdsmen as terrorists.
A community leader, Owolafe Folorunsho, said some gunmen attacked the communities on February 2, this year.
He said the attack was triggered by efforts by farmers to repel the continued wanton destruction of their crops by the herdsmen.
According to him: “the herders have continued to invade our farmlands at night, harvest our crops to feed their cattle and on many occasions, they come during the day, force us to uproot the Cassava by ourselves at gunpoint, command us to cut them into pieces to feed their animals.
“In order not to take laws into our hands, we reported this act of economic sabotage to the appropriate authorities who took prompt action and chased them out of the farming areas, only for the Fulani herdsmen to come back and attack us with AK-47, pump action guns, axes and cutlasses, and killed our people at night.”
He said, in broad daylight, the herdsmen also laid ambush, attacked some traders travelling from Akure, dispossessed them of their belongings, killed all the occupants of the vehicle and set the car ablaze.
Confirming the incident, the Olumoru of Imoru, Oba Oluwarotimi Obamuwagun, lamented the atrocities of the herdsmen in the area.
He expressed sadness about the criminal activities of the herdsmen in his domain.
The Odibiado of Ijagba, Oba Andrew Ikioya Ilevare, in his reaction, said the herdsmen have now resorted to harvesting plantains of farmers and bring them to market to sell.
The royal fathers who queried why the federal government should allow herdsmen to go about with AK-47 rifles to terrorize innocent people, praised the Governor of Ondo state, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), for the establishment of the Southwest Security Network, codenamed Amotekun, to checkmate the excesses of notorious herdsmen in the state, especially in Ose local government area.
The Chairman of the local government, Prince Adekunle Dennis, who visited the troubled communities, expressed the concern of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, over the security situation in Ose, promising that something will be done urgently to checkmate the excesses of the herdsmen.
He said the council is meeting with the relevant authorities and stakeholders with the aim of redesigning the security architecture of all the flashpoints to nip the security challenges in the bud.
While calling on the community leaders and youth organizations to be more security conscious, the council boss charged them to improve on intelligence gathering that will enable them give correct and useful information to the security agencies as government cannot do it all alone.
