Rogue elements among herdsmen are said to be establishing camps in various places in Ekiti State, notably in Government Forest Reserves, where they engage in some kind of military training, according to a report prepared by a committee raised by Ekiti Council of Elders (ECE).
“Some of their activities include armed robbery and kidnapping on the highways within the state and in neighbouring states. These bandits are reportedly capable of moving rapidly from their venues of operation to their hideouts and even other camps outside the state as the case may require”, the report exclusively obtained by Sunday Vanguard said.
The police said, yesterday, that they were not aware of any such military training.
The eight-member committee on Land Usages by Non-indigenes in Ekiti State had been put in place in March 2019 by ECE to investigate the influx of non-indigenes into the state.
The committee report, dated November 2019, was discussed at the January 2020 meeting of ECE where Yoruba leader, Prof. Banji Akintoye, said it should be made available to all South-West governors amid the raging battle to legalise Amotekun, the outfit raised by the governors to combat insecurity challenge in the region.
Akintoye insisted that Amòt’kun had come to stay and commended the Yoruba governors “for the good work”.
“The influx of non-indigenes into Ekiti has reached a critical level. There is palpable apprehension in the minds of many indigenes of the potential negative consequences of this influx, especially as there is a feeling of loss of control over this development”, the report, in its introduction, noted.
‘Over the course of many years now, the Ekiti Council of Elders has received notices of this apprehension as well as observed same as individual members of various communities”.
“The issue was finally brought forward for discussion within the Council during its February 2019 monthly meeting. As a result, the Committee on Land Usages by Non-Indigenes was constituted at its monthly meeting of March 2019. This Committee is to look into the land usages by non-indigenes and advise the Council regarding appropriate actions that will safeguard the interests of the indigenes especially in the long run”.
