In the aftermath of the burning of the farm of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, by suspected herdsmen, the leaders of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and Agbekoya Farmers Association have vowed to protect farmers in the South West zone henceforth.
A section of the elder statesman’s farm was set ablaze penultimate Sunday.
Speaking to The Punch, the National Publicity Secretary of the Agbekoya Farmers Association, Chief Olatunji Bandele, said, “We have established a vigilance group and it will take off with 1 , 000 men any moment from now . We are training others who will join later . The vigilantes , who would be on oath , will be deployed in to all the nooks and crannies of Yorubaland.
“ Ex – security personnel, who are now our members , are handling the training . Agbekoya from inception was established to fight for human rights. We fought for the rights of farmers during the time of the late Gen . Adeyinka Adebayo in the old Western Region .
“ Members of our vigilance group can carry arms; we will get licences for their guns. In any case , we are not solely depending on ammunition . Our forefathers didn’ t fight with sophisticated weapons. We can fight without modern arms. ”
Also speaking with the paper, Ondo State Coordinator of OPC, Mr. Olayemi Egbeola, said, “We have started mobilising our members across the state to flush out the killer herdsmen from our farmlands . We will get to all the nooks and crannies of the state.
“We are not afraid of their weapons. Let them come with whatever weapon they have . Our people should be assured that we will conquer the marauders and flush them out of the South – West.”