Oyo State Okada riders spy for armed Fulani herdsmen
By Ahmed Oloko
Almost all Okada riders in Oyo State spy for armed Fulani men currently hiding in thick forests located in the state.
This allegation was made on Monday by the Commander, Amotekun Corps, Col Tunde Togun.
The former boss of Directorate of Military Intelligence, (DMI) was referring to non Yoruba Okada riders.
He said the armed men employ the Okada riders to spy for the armed invaders who have forcefully occupied the forests belonging to indigenous peoples in Oyo State.
Togun said the kidnappers and bandits are moving in large numbers to the South West adding that they had infiltrated the region by exploring the vulnerable borders.
He spoke with journalists at his office in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Monday
He said the armed groups were brought into the country in large numbers during the COVID-19 lockdown.
He said many of them could not speak English but French.
He accused some community leaders of making the mistake of giving out their ancestral lands to the armed groups possibly out of ignorance of the consequences on peace building and sustainable development in the area.
Toogun said, “Before Amotekun was established, the problem of Yorubaland since the invasion of the land by these herdsmen has been our traditional chiefs and leaders in Yorubaland. They take money, cows and cars from these people and allow them to settle and wreak havoc in their domains.
According to him he has attended meetings of obas in Oke-Ogun and told them to stop giving land to foreigners.
“These herdsmen are called Bororos in Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa areas. They are not Nigerians. What is happening should not be analysed in the area of religion; it is territorial expansion” Togun said.
He said their leaders argue about the ECOWAS free movement law, :but the one I am aware of is that anybody from the ECOWAS country can go into another ECOWAS country without a visa. You cannot stay there for more than 90 days at a stretch; some of these people have been occupying our land for years and they are not Nigerians.”
He said Nigerians were not security conscious and that lack of a data base affects effective detection of crime across the country.