The Ondo State Security Network Agency, otherwise known as Amotekun Corps, has said that within three years of its operation, no fewer than 170 herders were arrested for flouting the anti-open-grazing law of the state.

The Commander of the security outfit, Adetunji Adeleye, who also revealed that over 10,000 cows were impounded during the period, said that the Amotekun had successfully curbed the incessant herders/farmers clashes in the state.

Adeleye, while speaking in Akure, the state capital, at the weekend, said that the clashes had been the most challenging for the Corps.

According to him, the situation was terrible in the past, as most farmers lived in fear and had their crops invested with huge funds destroyed by the rampaging herders.

The Amotekun boss said that mass education and sensitisation initiated by the security outfit between the herders and farmers had helped in ending the clashes and reducing food insecurity in the state.

“We also had close to 20,000 petitions within six months. So, we started with mass education of both the herders and the farmers, explaining the limitations of each group.

“Farmers, you can farm, but don’t take laws into your hands by killing cows. Herders, you have a right to graze your cows, but you don’t have a right to disrupt the business of the other group, which is farming. So, don’t destroy their crops. Where it happens, we mediate.

“So, after that, we brought in the leadership of the farmers and the Miyetti Allah together, and we told them what the government wanted because, at that time, there was serious food insecurity in the state, generally in the country because people were no longer going to farms.

“The government wanted people to go back to farms. We were able to restore normalcy within a year, though it was very difficult,” he explained.

He added that the implementation and enforcement of the anti-open grazing law in the state had also kept at bay the activities of the herders.