&w=64&q=75)
Operatives of the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun, have engaged in a bloody clash with some herdsmen of the Fulani stock in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
An unspecified number of people were injured, including Amotekun personnel and herders during the clash over the weekend.
According to reports, the mayhem broke out after the Amotekun operatives came under attack while enforcing the anti-open grazing law in Igoba town in the Akure North council area of the state.
Sources said it all started after the local security outfit arrested over 120 cows and their herders for encroaching into and destroying tomato farms worth millions of naira in the town.
It was also gathered that owners of the farms had been complaining about the herders grazing on their farms.
Meanwhile, Amotekun personnel responded to a distress call from a tomato farmer and promptly arrested the cows and their herders.
However, things turned bloody after the men of the security outfit were attacked by some herdsmen while transporting the arrested herders and cows to their office in the State capital.
Reacting to the incident, the state commander of Amotekun, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, said his men were pelted with stones, bottles, daggers, and guns, leaving several officers severely injured.
According to Adeniken, the herdsmen ”Continued to throw stones and bottles till they invaded the main road and hacked one of the Amotekun officers to a coma while attempting to disarm the officers and men of the Amotekun corps.
”Sequentially, the officers of the Amotekun Corps shot into the air to dislodge them and move back to the office.
“Unfortunately, other officers sustained varying degrees of injuries during the attack and they are currently receiving medical attention at the Hospital.
“Hence, the cows’ owners have been identified while investigation continues by the corps."
He added, “Government will continue to pursue with vigour, through lawful means, to ensure strict compliance of the law to ensure that the efforts of farmers would not be truncated through destruction of their farmlands by herders and their cows."