LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Amotekun Corps in Ondo have said over 9,000 herders who illegally found their way into the State through the border towns have been chased back.
Adetunji Adeleye, the Commander of the Corps, who spoke on Wednesday, in Akure, added that the herders always entered Ondo through the border towns in the dead of the night.
He expressed worry at the sudden flow of the herders whom he said “always masquerades in different forms” to enter the State.
“The reality is that in the last month, we have a very heavy annoying unusual influx of herdsmen to the State. We have to drive them back to where they came from.
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“As of yesterday, we are confronted with over 9,000 herders against the laws of the land. They moved them in the midnight and they masquerade as different forms of criminals,” Mr Adeleye told reporters while parading over 31 suspects arrested for different criminal cases in Ondo.
He mentioned that the herders always came into Ondo through the border communities in Edo, Kogi and now Ekiti States with large numbers of cattle to perpetrate crimes.
He, however, noted that only herdsmen who registered with the State Government would be allowed in the State, warning the illegal ones to steer clear.
“So, the trend has been on for a long time, especially in the last one month but we’re now working on different modalities of ensuring that herders that are legitimate to be in the State are there.
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“And the ones who are criminals and are not supposed to be in the state are driven out of our forest. Also, we are making efforts towards the border towns of state because we notice that those that find their way now to Ondo is through Ekiti State,” Mr Adeleye said.
Adeleye further disclosed that the corps arrested about 7,000 criminals in over two years of its existence, noting that 1,500 of the arrested criminals had been charged in court.
“Other sister security agencies, the Army, the police and the Department of State Services- are giving us support. The DSS has often assisted us in getting the requisite geo-location of kidnap victims and suspects.
“All these, coupled with our local intellect and unconventional methods, had assisted us in arresting well over 7,000 suspected criminals in the last two years, out of 1,500 of them have been charged to court.
“We have even secured judgment of very many of them. At a time when the turnout of criminals was becoming unmanageable for the judiciary, the administration of Oluwarotimi Akeredolu graciously approved the building of two courts to assist the judiciary in the prompt dispensation of justice,” the statement read.