The Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, and the Agbekoya Farmers Association, AFA, have mobilised fighters in the Southwest against the continued killing of innocent farmers by Fulani herdsmen.
The groups have vowed to adequately protect Yorubaland from herdsmen attacks.
This development followed an attack on the farm of a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae.
Leaders of the OPC and the Agbekoya across the South-West, who spoke with Punch, said vigilance groups have been established across the region.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Agbekoya Farmers Association, 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, the coordinator of the Ondo State chapter of the OPC, Olayemi Egbeola, told the newspaper, “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.”
The Ekiti State coordinator of OPC Sola Ojo, also said, “OPC is meant to defend the Yoruba and protect our heritage. We are cautious in what we do . We take directives from the Aare Ona Kakanfo, Gani Adams. We are equal to the task even though we don’t carry AK-47 rifles.
“We , however , need government support in terms of logistics so that we can move round the farms without much stress . We don’t need to carry AK – 47 before we confront murderers. We conquered Badoo criminal gang in Ikorodu without carrying guns.”