Residents of Arimogija community in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State have begun to flee the community following the fear of attack of herdsmen.
The residents lamented that some Fulani herdsmen had been attacking them, killing three persons on their farm during the week and nothing had been done to check the criminal activities of the bandits.
They also alleged that a helicopter came into the forest of the community and dropped some ammunition for the herdsmen. They said the matter was reported at the police station but no action was taken by the security agencies on the matter.
A resident of the town, who did not want his name in the print told our correspondent that the entire community had been living in fear, saying some of the residents had begun to relocate from the community following the Fulani herdsmen’s attack.
The resident said:
“The Fulani herdsmen have killed three people in this community, in just one week. They killed a rice farmer, Jacob Odushe and his son, Adura this week. They killed another boy, Victor Ejeh. The boy’s corpse was found in the bush after a week that he was declared missing. The cuts on his body showed that he was killed by the bandits.
“Again, few days ago, a helicopter was sighted in our community and we later found out that the helicopter brought some arms and ammunition into the bush for the herdsmen to continue in their attack against us.
“We want to appeal to the state government to come to our aids, we need a serious presence of security agencies in this community and we don’t want to be taking laws into our hands.”
In his reaction, the Special Adviser to Governor Akeredolu on Security Matters Alhaji Jimoh Dojumo confirmed the killings in the community but said the governor had sent some security agents there to maintain law and order.
He said:
“I have been there, with some people, the people were so bittered about the man and his son that were killed. As they saw us they started protesting but I was able to calm them down.
“They were apprehensive of the fact that they said they saw a particular helicopter that came to the bush and they were suspecting that the helicopter brought some Fulani to the place to come and attack them probably at night.
“But Mr Governor has sent some solders there, as I am talking to you soldiers were patroling the community.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Tee-Leo Ikoro was unable to comment on the matter as he said he was at a meeting when a call was put across to him and he did not respond to the text message sent to him.
