Six persons have been killed in Ondo State following attack by suspected herders on some communities in Ose Local Government Area of the state.
The affected communities, Arimogija and Molege were said to have been under incessant attacks for the past two weeks.
Among those that were killed were farmers, traders, and travellers with the communities.
It was gathered that farmers’ attempts to stop the herders from continuing to wilfully destroy their crops served as the impetus for the attack.
Owolafe Folorunsho, a community leader, claimed that AK-47 and pump action were freely used during the attack.
“The herders have continued to invade our farmlands at night, harvest our crops to feed their cows and on many occasions, they will come during the day, force us to uproot the cassava by ourselves at gunpoint and command us to cut them into pieces to feed their cows.
“In order not to take laws into our hands, we reported this act to the appropriate authority who took prompt action to chase them out of the farming areas only for the Fulanis to come back and attack us with AK-47, pump action, axes cutlasses and kill our people at night.”
The Onimoru of Imoru, Oba Rotimi Obamuwagun, confirmed the occurrence and bemoaned the brutality of the suspected herders.
He expressed sadness over the herders’ unlawful activities in his realm.
The Odibiado of Ijagba, Oba Andrew Ikioya Ilevare, who also confirmed the incident, said that the development had created tension within the axis.
