There had been repeated reports of killings and kidnappings for ransom being on the rise on Nigeria’s highways and farms.
In many states in Nigeria, there are several allegations that this crime had been committed against the backdrop of the herdsmen who herd livestock in different forests across the states of the country.
The Southwest states and Ondo state, in particular, are also major victims of the rising crime. In Ondo state, Olufunke Olakurin, the daughter of Afenifere chieftain, Reuben Fasoranti, was reportedly shot and killed on her way to Lagos by suspected herdsmen along Ore road, Ondo State.
Also, the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae, was abducted by armed herders on his farm in Akure. Despite efforts by the police to secure his release, the elder statesman still paid ₦5 million ransom to regain his freedom.
In a PDF Report from SB Morgen, a consulting firm in Nigeria, gathering its data from a variety of open sources, which include the Council’s Nigeria Security Tracker, Ondo state has the record of 54 kidnapping cases between June 2011 and March 2020.
The report added that “at least $18.34 million has been paid to kidnappers as ransom. Even more frightening is that the larger proportion of that figure (just below $11 million), was paid out between January 2016 and March 2020, indicating that kidnapping is becoming more lucrative.”
In responding to this growing menace in Ondo State, the Nigeria Army launched operation crocodile tears in some states of the Southwest but then, the killings and kidnappings still continue.
In reacting to the unhealthy development of kidnapping in Ondo State, the state government, after tracing the criminal act to those who are masquerading as herdsmen, decided to exercise its constitutional obligation to protect the lives and properties of all residents in the state.
Thus, the state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, ordered all herdsmen to vacate the state forest reserve within seven days, banned night-grazing, movement of cattle within cities and highway,s and outlawed underaged grazing in the state. He then asked any cattle herder willing to do business in the state to register with the state government.
The Presidency was quick to react to the decision of the state government. President Muhammadu Buhari through its Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said Akeredolu “will be the least expected to unilaterally oust thousands of herders who have lived all their lives in the state on account of the infiltration of the forests by criminals.”
What the Presidency failed to note here is that Akeredolu was not asking the herders to leave the state but the forests reserve area, the reserved forests belong to the state. Also, the forests were not being infiltrated by criminals that can easily be identified, but criminals who were masquerading as herders.
