The Commander of the Ondo State Security Network, Amotekun, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, on Wednesday said over 9000 herders who illegally found their way to the state through the border have been flushed out of the State.
Adeleye who disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Akure, Ondo state capital, said, most of these herders entered the state through the border towns in the dead of the night.
The Amotekun boss who expressed worries over the influx of some criminals who masquerade themselves as herders to gain entrance into the State to perpetrate crimes
He mentioned that the herders always come into Ondo through the border communities in Edo, Kogi and now Ekiti with large numbers of cattle to perpetrate crimes.
According to him, the Amotekun Corps was able to notice that the herders will always come to Ondo through trucks with loads and would refuse security patrol to search them.
He, however, noted that only herdsmen who registered with the state government would be allowed in the state, warning the illegal ones to stay clear.
He said “the reality is that in the last month, we have a very heavy annoying unusual influx of herdsmen to the state. We have to drive them back to where they came from.
“As of yesterday, we are confronted with over 9000 herders against the laws of the land. They moved them in the midnight and they masquerade as different forms of criminals.
“So, the trend has been on for a long time, especially in the last month but we’re now working on different modalities of ensuring that herders that are legitimate to be in the state are there.
“And the ones who are criminals and are not supposed to be in the state are driven out of our forest. Also, we are making efforts towards the border towns of state because we notice that those that find their way now to Ondo is through Ekiti state,” he disclosed.
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