BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
THE Field Commander of Western Nigeria Security Network (Amotekun) in Osun State, Amitolu Shittu, on Tuesday, disclosed that the corps arrested no fewer than 28 cows for destroying a farm.
The farm, according to the leader of the Amotekun corps, belongs to a former Permanent Secretary in the state.
Shittu revealed this while featuring on a radio programme monitored buy our Correspondent on Tuesday.
He said the crops on the farm were eaten by the cattle on January 27, 2021, in Esa-Oke town, Obokun Local Government Area of the state.
Although, Shittu said that the cows were pastored by herdsmen, he argued that the herders were not the ones who destroyed the farm but the cows.
Explaining how the arrest was made, Shittu said, “In Esa-Oke on January 27, a farm was attacked. It was not the herder that destroyed the farm. It was the cow that ate up the crops, so, I arrested the cows, 28 cows, and moved them to the palace of the Owamiran of Esa-Oke.
“Whoever that violently destroys another person’s farmland is a criminal. The monarch invited us to a meeting between his community, other ethnic leaders like Igbo, Hausa, Fulani and I went there with my men.
“On getting there, there was a man who had been saddled with the responsibility of settling issues with Bororo and Fulani and their host communities in the state. He was present too. The farm destroyed belongs to a retired Permanent Secretary in Osun State who had invested his gratuity on the farm.”
“There were elements of resistance during the arrest of the cattle but I am not after the Fulani but the cows. I couldn’t find anybody but I found cows. Because the palace doesn’t have enough space, they asked me to take them to the police.
“I later called Comrade Oguntola Toogun to tell the Fulani herdsmen that we had arrested their cows,” he added.
