The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) has visited the Omolege community in the Ose Local Government Area of the state where some gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen carried out an attack, many people.
The attackers stormed the community last Thursday evening, killed three people and razed down buildings in the community overnight while the residents ran for their lives. The community’s head was said to be among those killed.
Akeredolu, who commiserated with the people of the community over the death of their loved ones, particularly the community head, vowed to deal with the perpetrators of the dastardly act, saying concerted efforts would be made to forestall future occurrence of such in the state.
The governor visited the scene of the incident in the company of the state Commissioner of Police, Oyediran Oyeyemi, the Commander of the Amotekun Corps, Akogun Tunji Adeleye, and some members of the state executive council.
Addressing the people, Akeredolu said, “I commiserate with you on the death of your loved ones. May their souls rest in peace. No government will be happy with this kind of development.
“But you have to be prepared. These herdsmen are becoming too problematic. We are not sleeping. You can see the police and Amotekun here. With this one they have done, we will ensure that it is their last evil act here.
“Those behind this are criminals. Those supporting them are all criminals too. Anyone who commits a crime will answer for it. The police and Amotekun with other security agencies will set out and bring them to justice. We will treat them like criminals.
“Both the police and Amotekun have briefed me that they were being shot at. But for their boldness and courage, the criminals would have overwhelmed them.
“I want to assure you, don’t be scared. We are still on their track. They have run to Edo now. But for the houses that were razed down, the government will bring relief materials. We will rebuild the ones that were razed completely.”
He said, ”I was home when we heard that some gunmen came and killed people here. We came here immediately and we met a dead body. These buildings had not been razed.
“When we alerted the police, the DPO came and we didn’t know that those people were still around. Not less than 30 minutes after the police evacuated the dead bodies, the gunmen came back and razed these buildings down.
“They always use guns to scare people away here and then bring their cows to graze on people’s farm and drink water. When they are leaving too, they also use guns to scare people away and leave. We have seen the level of damage here. People have left the community. We are begging the government to come to our rescue.”
Similarly, the Coordinator of the Oodua People’s Congress in the area, Mr Folorunso Olofe, narrated that the herdsmen were more than 50 that attack the community with AK-47 guns.
“This has been happening for long. They are always coming with AK-47, they were more than 50. One Amotekun officer was hit with a bullet during the attack. They came and killed the Baale. The police came and evacuated the dead bodies and not up to fifteen minutes, they came back and razed down this place,” Olofe narrated.
