Men of the Ondo State Security Network codenamed Amotekun and suspected Fulani herdsmen on Friday engaged in a battle as the security outfit enforced the anti-open grazing law in Igoba, Akure North Local Government Area of the state.
The state government had on August 31st, 2021, signed the Anti-Grazing Bill into law in line with the resolution of the Southern Governors’ Forum aimed at stemming needless instances of skirmishes, conflicts as well as infractions on the enviably peaceful disposition of the good people of the state tate.
The duel between the armed Fulani herdsmen and the law enforcement agency left officers of the outfit scampered for safety while one of them was critically injured.
In a statement by the spokesman of the Amotekun, Jimoh Adeniken said the attack by the Fulani herdsmen was unwarranted as they were attacked while performing their lawful duties in protecting lives and farmlands.
Adeniken said the Amotekun Corps went to Igoba upon constant complaints from many farmers in the town and neighbouring Osi that cows were destroying their farmlands.
He said the men of Amotekun corps from the headquarters in Alagbaka Akure, responded to a distress call on Friday at about 1600 hours.
During the operation, Adeniken said 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, he said 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.
His words “The corps retreated based on the order from the state headquarters of the Amotekun corps. The assailants continued to throw stones and bottles till they invaded the main road and hacked one of the Amotekun officers into a coma while attempting to disarm the officers and men of the Amotekun corps.
“Sequentially, the officers of the Amotekun Corps shot into the air to dislodge them and move back to the office. Unfortunately, other officers sustained varying degrees of injuries during the attack and they are currently receiving medical attention at the Hospital. Hence, the owner of the cows has been identified while investigation continues by the corps.”
Despite the attack on the officers, Adeniken said the Corps would, however, continue to carry out its legal functions of protecting the people of the state as well as their properties.
He added that the government would continue to pursue with vigour, through lawful means, to ensure strict compliance with the law to ensure, that the efforts of farmers will not be truncated through the destruction of their farmlands by herders and their cows.