Ondo Community Rejects 200 Fulani Herdsmen

Ondo Community Rejects 200 Fulani Herdsmen

Residents of Ajowa Akoko community in Akoko North-West Local Government Area of Ondo State have rejected about 200 Fulani herdsmen who wanted to settle in the their community.

A source in the community said the herdsmen were brought into the community in trailers and trucks in the evening on Sunday but were quickly rejected by the residents of the town. Some dangerous weapons were said to have been found in their possession.

The source said, “They (residents) alleged that the ‘unwanted visitors’ were brought into their community without informing them while some of them had weapons in their luggage.

“The youths protested, they did not allow them to get down from the vehicles, it took the intervention of the security agencies before the youths of the town could be calmed.”

The traditional ruler of the town, Oba Clement Jimoh, said the coming into the community of such a large number of herdsmen, of over 200 was an embarrassment to them.

The monarch confirmed that the elders, security agencies prevailed on the youths of the community not to take the law into their hands.

Another monarch, the Oluro of Uro Ajowa Oba Timothy Ipinmoroti, said Ajowa Akoko remained one of the most hospitable communities in Yorubaland but the way these herdsmen came signaled suspicion and called for caution.

The chairman of Ajowa Akoko community, Mr. Bakare Ajayi, revealed that Ajowa as a gateway town needed a lot of consciousness.

”Besides, our people have been battling with a few herdsmen in their farms who usually use their cows to vandalise their crops with also the security challenges of kidnapping in the axis.”

He also said the residents needed to be security conscious as they saw dangerous weapons like axes, sharp cutlasses and sword in the luggage of the Fulani herdsmen.

One of the rejected herdsmen simply identified as Issa Ahmed, however, alleged that some indigenes of the town collected money from them before they decided to come to the community for settlement.

In his reaction, the Police Area Commander for Ikare Akoko, Mr. Razak Rauf, confirmed the incident saying the police were still investigating the matter.

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