Farmers in the Ajegunle/Powerline community in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State have called on the state government and the security agencies in the state to curb the alleged nefarious activities of herdsmen in their community.
The community said the herdsmen recently attacked farmers in the community, injuring some of them.
They were also accused of destroying their farmlands.
A leader in the community, Abraham Olowo, who spoke with journalists on Wednesday, said the attacks had been going on repeatedly on the entire farmers of the community by the herdsmen, calling for urgent intervention from the state government.
Olowo said, “The attacks started two weeks ago but the climax of it all was the attack they did a few days ago which almost resulted in the death of one of the farmers in the community, who is currently at the emergency unit of a private hospital in the state.
“Up till today, the attacks persist. They always carry out the attacks at night and early in the morning, cart away our foods, destroy our farm products, and even machete people to the extent that the victims will land in the hospital.
“These nefarious activities are happening within Ago-Dada to Ago-Oyinbo along Powerline Road. They have attacked everybody in the community. We are calling on the government to intervene because we cannot run away from the herdsmen. They intend to drive the people out of the community and take over our community.”
Olowo appealed to the government and the security agencies to come to their aid before the situation goes out of hand.
He added, “We know their location within the community there. Before now, they attack us occasionally but now, it is every day. These herdsmen will collect our phones and cash, destroy our farm products and even attack us on our lands.
“We have been to the headquarters of Amotekun, and Ala Police Division to report officially and they promised that they will come but we have not seen any of them up till now. We have even started our vigilante but without government intervention, our aims will not be achieved. We need the government’s attention seriously.”
Olowo called on the Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu; and security agencies to help them.
“We don’t know what to do because if we revenge, it might lead to bloodshed and we don’t want that. We want the government to help us,” he concluded.
