A report by The Nation newspaper says personnel of the Nigerian Army escorted herdsmen to villages in Ogun State and brutalised indigenes in the afternoon of December 19, 2020.
Their crime was rejecting the marauding herdsmen who allegedly killed, maimed, raped while causing havoc in the locality.
At Ubeku village in Yewa North Local Government Area, one of the victims of the brutality, Seye Mulero, narrated how he got himself into trouble with soldiers from 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta, who reportedly took part in the operation, designed to intimidate the villagers.
Mr Mulero was said to have told the visiting military personnel how herdsmen were causing havoc in their domain hence the villagers’ decision to chase away the cattle breeders.
He said the angry soldiers immediately pounced on him on the recommendation of herdsmen and thereafter ordered the village to accommodate the herders.
A similar scenario played out in Iselu, Ibeku, Agbon-Ojodu, Asa and other villages, according to the Lagos-based national daily.
Request for comments on the story from military authorities was unsuccessful but the police is said to have brokered a peace arrangement between leaders of communities affected and herdsmen in the area.
This development comes amidst rising tension in Ondo and Oyo states where herders were given ultimatum to vacate forests in the areas over alleged criminal acts by their kinsmen.
