Ekiti, Osun and Ondo states have deployed the western security network, Amotekun, in their forests and boundaries in order to check the infiltration of killer herdsmen in the region.
The state governments’ move was disclosed on Sunday.
However, while Ekiti state government said there were no killer herdsmen in its forest reserves, Ondo and Osun states lamented their efforts to eliminate herdsmen from their forests.
But all three states said they had deployed Amotekun corps to their forests and boundaries.
Recall that Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, issued a seven-day quit notice to the herdsmen operating in the State’s forest reserves on January 18.
After a meeting with Akeredolu, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria however, agreed to the directive.
The Ondo State Governor also banned the movement of cattle along the highways and within the cities, night grazing and underage grazing.
Consequently, other States in the South-West supported the directives as they also urged herdsmen to desist from criminal activities.
Speaking on Sunday, the Special adviser to the Governor of Ekiti State on Security Matters, Brigadier General Ebenezar Ogundana, said killer herdsmen were not in Ekiti forests.
“We don’t have them in our forests for now. We are going round all our forests and what we hear is that ‘they are coming’. Anybody that knows where they are in the forests should alert us. We have not got any call from anywhere.”
“Operatives of Amotekun and other security agencies are watching the boundaries with neighbouring states. We have our own contingency plan. We have an additional outfit, Operation Flush, which sees to what is happening in the forests and the highways,” he stated.