No fewer than five persons have been reportedly killed as fresh crisis ensued when Fulani herdsmen attack farmers in the Imeko-Afon Local Government Area of Ogun State.

Flavision learnt that Fulani herdsmen and some Ohori farmers engaged one another in a clash at Idofa village, leading to loss of lives and property worth millions of Naira.

According to Daily Post, the residents of Aworo community in the Yewa North Local Government chased the herdsmen from their village to Idofa in Imeko, killing three of them and their cows.

Aworo people had accused the Fulani of destroying their farms and water sources through open grazing of cows, a practice the Ogun State government had banned.

A community leader who spoke on the condition of anonymity said there was a reprisal attack on Thursday after the Aworo people killed the three herdsmen in Idofa.

He said the retaliation led to the death of two Yorubas, one of whom was burnt beyond recognition.

Houses, four maize barns, motorcycles and other valuables were reportedly set ablaze by the attackers.

The Aworo people chased the herdsmen from Yewa North to Idofa in Imeko. They killed three of them there and killed their cows.

On Thursday, the Fulani herdsmen returned in the dead of the night to launch an attack. They killed two persons, set houses and other properties on fire. One of those killed was burnt in a house beyond recognition. It took the intervention of the police and the Amotekun corps to calm the situation

As we are talking, many Ohoris are injured, hundreds are now displaced at Imeko town. We need the attention of the Federal and the State Governments to take care of the displaced persons,

the community leader explained.

As of Friday, it was gathered that many residents of the village had fled for fear of being killed.

The Ogun State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Samson Odedina when called said had yet to comment on the matter as the time filing this report.

Meanwhile, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi confirmed the incident on Saturday, assuring that those behind it would be apprehended and brought to book.

We heard about it. It is an unfortunate incident and we are investigating it. We have called on all stakeholders, including the Fulani communities that have been living in that place, who testified that they did not even know the reason for the attack.

We are investigating to ensure that those who carried out that dastardly act are apprehended in other not to cause further crisis.

The situation is under control as more policemen have been deployed to the place. The Commissioner of Police has directed that the Area Commander should take charge of the security situation in the area.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.