A bloody clash between the Ondo state security outfit codenamed Amotekun and some Fulani herdsmen in Akure, the state capital, has left many wounded.
The personnel of the security outfit and the herdsmen were seriously injured during the clash over the weekend.
Amotekun operatives were attacked while enforcing the anti-open grazing law in the lgoba area of the state.
Sources said that an ugly incident occurred When the personnel of the security outfit arrested over 120 cows and their herders for grazing and destroying tomato farms worth millions of naira at Igoba town in Akure North council area of the state.
Reports had it that the farmers in the area had been complaining about the herders grazing on their farms.
The personnel of the security outfit responded to a distress call from a tomato farmer and arrested the cows and herders.
The Amotekun personnel were said to have been attacked by the Fulani herdsmen while they were transporting the arrested herders and cows to their office in the state capital.
Vanguard learnt that the clash later resulted in Injuries on both sides.
Reacting, to the clash, the state commander of Amotekun, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, said his officers were attacked with stones, bottles, daggers, and guns, and several officers sustained injuries.
A statement signed by the spokesperson for the outfit, Jimoh Adeniken, said that the personnel were attacked while enforcing the anti-open grazing law of the State.
Adeniken said that the herdsmen ” continued to throw stones and bottles till they invaded the main road and hacked one of the Amotekun officers to 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 cows’ owners have been identified while investigation continues by the corps.
He added that “Government will continue to pursue with vigour, through lawful means, to ensure strict compliance of the law to ensure that the efforts of farmers would not be truncated through destruction of their farmlands by herders and their cows.
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