Why we evicted 42 Fulani herders from Ondo – Amotekun

Ondo State security outfit codenamed Amotekun has said it evicted 42 Fulani men who invaded the Okitipupa council area of the state when they could not clearly state their mission in the area.

The herders were reportedly brought in a truck and dumped in front of the Okitipupa Army Barracks, which was said to have heightened the tension in the community.

Residents reportedly raised the alarm and reported the matter to Amotekun.

The security group was said to have sent them back to their various states of origin on the order of the state government.

The visitors, it was learnt, said during interrogation by the personnel of Amotekun that they were in the state for security training.

The state Commander of Amotekun, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, however told journalists that the 42 men were arrested following their inability to explain their mission in the state.

“We look at them as a security risk to the state,” he said.

Adeleye said the suspected invaders, who hailed from Kano and Jigawa states, claimed that they were invited to the state by an agent to be engaged as security guards for the pipelines.

Part of his statement read, “In the last three days, there have been issues relating to the invasion of the state by alleged Fulani men.

“Our intelligence showed us the influx of some people especially into Okitipupa Local Government Area of the state. So, we monitored and we found out that they converged in front of the army barracks in Okitipupa.

“They were there for a couple of hours and at that point, we tried to find out what their mission is, but because they couldn’t give satisfactory explanations we moved them to our local office first in Okitipupa to try to debrief them and from the debriefing at Okitipupa, we had to move them to the state headquarters for proper debriefing. “When they arrived, we profile them and we found out that they are primarily from two major states, Kano and Jigawa States. “The mission that they claimed they came for is not too clear and upon profiling, we found out that majority of them don’t even know how they got to where they got to. “All they were told was that they were going for training. Training for who, by who? They do not know.

“The sponsors happened to also claim that they belong to an NGO; that they contracted out the training to a consultant who was supposed to train their men. They said they were going to train them as security guards.

“But as part of our discreet investigation, we found out that the so call consultant had been arrested in Delta State and I confirmed from the Delta State Police Command as at today that he’s still in their custody. So, we intend to release them, we will release all these ones and ensure that they are taken back to their states.”