A group of suspected herdsmen on Friday attacked operatives of the Amotekun Corps at Igogba in the Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State. 

The officers were attacked while enforcing the anti-open grazing law of the state. 

Recall that the law came into effect in Ondo on August 31, 2021, when late governor Rotimi Akeredolu signed the anti-grazing bill.  

Peoples Gazette learnt that one of the officers, whose identity had yet to be released, was hacked by the armed herdsmen during the attack. 

Confirming the attack on Saturday, in a statement, the spokesperson for the Amotekun Corps in the state, Jimoh Adeniken, said the officers were acting on complaints from farmers in the Igoba and Osi communities over constant destruction of their farms. 

Mr Adeniken, in the copy of the statement accompanied by videos and pictorial evidence, said the herdsmen, who were armed with stones, bottles and cutlasses attacked the officers. 

He said, “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.” 

Noting that the officers had to quickly retreat to base on the order from the command, Mr Adeniken explained that the attackers continued to throw stones and bottles till they escaped to the main road.

He said one of the herders hacked an officer of the Amotekun to a coma while attempting to disarm the corps.

He stated, “Sequentially, the officers of the Amotekun Corps shot into the air to disperse them and return to the office. Unfortunately, other officers sustained varying degrees of injury 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.”

According to him, the decision of the Amotekun Corps was in line with the resolution of the Southern Governors’ Forum aimed at stemming needless cases of skirmishes, conflicts and infractions on the enviably peaceful disposition of the good people of Ondo State.

The statement added, “Government will continue to pursue with vigour, through lawful means, to ensure strict compliance of the law with a view to ensuring, that the efforts of farmers would not be truncated through destruction of their farmlands by herders and their cows. Officers of the corps will however, continue to carry out their legal functions of protecting people of the state as well as their property.’’