Farmers, herders’ clalshes, our biggest challenge in Ondo – Amotekun

Adetunji Adeleye, the Commander of the Ondo State Security Network Agency (Amotekun Corps), has explained that the biggest challenge the local security outfit is confronted with is the clashes between farmers and herders in the State.

Adeleye, who said this on Sunday in Akure, however, noted that the mass education and enlightenment initiated by the security outfit between the herders and farmers had helped in ending the clashes and reducing food insecurity in the State.

According to him, the incessant herders and farmers clashes in the State are now a thing of the past.

reports that Ondo State had faced conflict between herders and farmers over farmlands and pasture, thereby escalating into economic losses and human casualties.

Adeleye stated that the situation was terrible in the past as the farmers were living in fear and had their crops, invested with huge funds, destroyed by the rampaging herders.

He maintained that the Corps was able to mediate between the farmers and the leadership of the Miyetti Allah in the State to resolve the rifts and ensure that normalcy returns.

“The farmers had completely left their farms for fear of being killed, kidnapped, and again, those who invested had all their crops destroyed.

“We also had close to 20,000 petitions within six months. So, we started by mass education of both the herders and the farmers, explaining the limitations of each group.

Farmers, you can farm, but don’t take the law into your own hands by killing cows. Herders, you have a right to graze your cows, but you don’t have a right to disrupt the business of the other group, which is farming, so don’t destroy their crops. Where it happens, we mediate.

So, after that, we brought in the leadership of the farmers and the Miyetti Allah together, and we told them what the government want because at that time, there was serious food insecurity in the state, generally in the country, and because people were no longer going to farm.

“The government wanted people to go back to farms. We were able to restore normalcy within a year, though very difficult,” he explained.

The Amotekun boss added that the implementation and enforcement of the anti-open grazing law in the State had also kept at bay the activities of the herders.

While noting that the Amotekun Corps initially found a bottleneck in the judicial process to trial suspects, Adeleye said the local security outfit was able to impound over 10,000 cows within the period of about three years and arrested about 170 in the first three years.

So, we approached the Government, and graciously, the House of Assembly and the State Government came up with the anti-open-grazing law, which is in force up to today.

“I can tell you that it really enhanced our operations and brought down farmers-herders clashes because as part of the anti-open-grazing law, there is a total ban on night grazing,” he said.