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Men of the Ondo State security outfit, codenamed Amotekun and soldiers clashed in Akure, the state capital, on Tuesday evening, over the arrest of over 100 cows that violated the state’s anti-grazing law.
Acting on a distress call from farmers in the Oke Aro area of the state capital, over the destruction of their farmlands, the personnel of the state security outfit reportedly stormed the area and arrested the cows in the act.
The cows were alleged to have destroyed farmlands and other valuables in the area.
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But, operatives of the Amotekun Corps, according to an eyewitness account, were resisted from taking the cows away by some soldiers reportedly attached to the 32 Artillery Brigade (Owena Cantonment) in Akure.
They reportedly claimed that the cows belong to their officers in the barracks.
It was gathered that while the Amotekun personnel were matching the arrested cows to their office at Alagbaka area of the state, soldiers numbering about 10 stormed the area with Hilux vehicle and prevented the arrest of the cows.
The soldiers insisted that the Amotekun men would not go away with the cows because they belonged to their superiors from the military barrack.
But the Amotekun Corps insisted that the cows have violated the anti-grazing law and must be taken to the office for the owners to bail them or pay for the damaged farmlands.
Crisis started with an exchange of hot words and it later snowballed into an exchange of blows between the personnel of the two security outfits on the street.
“Before we know what was happening, they started shooting sporadically into the air. Immediately they started shooting, the residents scampered for safety in order not to be caught in the fire by the two security outfits,” an eyewitness said.
It was gathered that the soldiers eventually overpowered the Amotekun personnel and they arrested and whisked away two personnel of the Corps.
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The state Commander of Amotekun Corps, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, when contacted, described the incident as “a minor disagreement” between the officers of the two security outfits.
Adeleye said, “It has been resolved amicably”, adding that “it was the arrested herders that hid under the soldiers to cause misunderstanding between the security outfits.”
The commander added that the cows have been released to the Amotekun Corps.
It was also gathered that the two Amotekun officers whisked away have equally been released to the state commander of the security outfit as normalcy has, however, returned to the troubled area in the state capital.