No fewer than six persons have been reportedly killed by some yet-to-be-identified gunmen in the last two weeks in the Arimogija and Molege axis of Ose Local Government Area of Ondo state.
The victims, according to villagers, are farmers, traders and passengers.
Residents of the communities are fleeing their homes over further attacks from the gunmen, whom many suspect are armed herdsmen.
A community leader, Owolafe Folorunsho, said some gunmen attacked the communities on February 2. The attack, he claimed began after farmers tried to repel the continued wanton destruction of their crops by the herdsmen.
He said: “The herders have continued to invade our farmlands at night. They harvest our crops to feed their Ccws, and on many occasions, they will come during the day, force us to uproot the cassava by ourselves at gunpoint. They would command us to cut them into pieces to feed their cows.
“In order not to take the laws into our hands, we reported the problem of economic sabotage to the appropriate authority who took prompt action to chase them out of the farms. But to our surprise, herdsmen came back and attacked us with AK-47, Pump Action, axes and cutlasses. They killed our people at night.”
According to him, the herdsmen laid ambush in a broad daylight and attacked some traders coming from Akure, during they killed and robbed the people , after which they set their vehicle ablaze.
Confirming the sad incident, the Onimoru of Imoru, Oba Rotimi Obamuwagun, lamented the atrocities of the herdsmen in the area. He expressed sadness about the criminal activities of the herdsmen in his domain.
The monarch’s claims were also corroborated by the Odibiado of Ijagba, Oba Andrew Ikioya Ilevare, who added that the bandits have now resulted to harvesting plantains and bring them to market to sell.
The royal fathers, who queried why the Federal Government should allow herdsmen carry AK-47 rifles to terrorize innocent people, praised the state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, for the establishment of the Southwest Security Network, popularly known as Amotekun.
The Chairman of the local government, Prince Adekunle Dennis, who visited the troubled communities, expressed government’s concern over the security situation in Ose LGA, 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 give correct and useful information to the security agencies.
