Ondo monarchs raise alarm over attacks on communities

Four traditional rulers have lamented the sacking of residents of communities in the Arimogija axis of Ose LGA of Ondo State.

The traditional rulers disclosed this in a communique forwarded to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu after a stakeholders meeting held at the weekend.

Rising from their meeting, the traditional rulers in the area: Olute of Ute, Oba Oluwole Akinrongbe; Olumoru of Imoru, Oba Rotimi Obamuwagun; Arujale Ojima of Okeluse, Oba Oloyede Akinghare; and Odibiado of Ijagba, Oba Andrew Okioya, said there had been constant attacks on farmers in the areas by herders.

They lamented that the farmers who were supposed to mobilise for the new farming season had been driven away from their farms by the heavily armed miscreants.

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The communique reads in part: “That all the camps, villages, settlements and suburbs like Arimogija have been sacked by these terrorists, bandits and armed herders with sophisticated weapons, and these perpetrators destroyed hectares of plantations of plantain, cassava, yam, etc, at will; harvest such crops and feed their animals, e.g. cows, with them.

“That they perpetrate such atrocities on the alleged belief that their cows usually give birth to two or three of their kinds at once when they are fed with these crops.

“That at regular intervals they willfully set fire on cocoa and other farmlands thereby causing poverty, hardship, hunger, sorrow and extreme pain to our people.”

The monarchs added that the incessant kidnappings, rape and destruction of farmlands by marauders had dangerous implications for food security in the agrarian communities of Ose LGA.

While commending the governor and security agencies for tackling insecurity in the state, they demanded the deployment of more security personnel and establishment of a Forward Operational Base in the area.