By James Sowole
Barely 48 hours after the Ondo State Government repatriated 42 alleged invaders to Kano and Jigawa states, the State Security Network agency codename Amotekun, has arrested another 137 persons from one of the state’s forest reserves.
The persons, who included women and young children, were said to be occupying the Elegbeka Forest located on Ifon-Owo Road.
Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu had earlier this year ordered all illegal occupants of the state government forest reserves to quit, warning that anyone who wanted to stay should register with appropriate government agencies.
The governor’s action followed the gruesome murder of the Olufon of Ifon, Oba Adegoke Adeusi who was shot dead on the Owo-Ifon road.
The State Commander of Amotekun Corps, Chief Adetunji Adeleye disclosed that the illegal occupants of the forest would be escorted out of the state to where they came from.
“We got an intelligence report that very many people bombarded our forests at Elegbeka–Ifon area in the state.
“We moved in and when we questioned them; majority of them said they were from the Northern part of the country while others said they were from Ogun State.
“We asked for their mission; they were not able to give us a clear-cut of what they were here for. We brought some of them to Akure and their sponsors here to the headquarters of Amotekun for proper investigation.
“We profiled them and we found out that they were conniving with some persons in Ose to be given space for settlement in the government’s forest reserves, which makes them illegal occupants of the forests.”
“We are sending them back to where they claimed they came from,” Adeleye said
