Fulani Herdsmen Set Olu Falae’s Five-hectare Oil Palm Plantation Ablaze

Suspected herdsmen have set the farm of a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae, near Akure, the Ondo State capital on fire.

The Spokesperson of the Ondo State Police Command, Femi Joseph, who confirmed the incident told Channels Television that the Police are trying to put out the fire.

He, however, said that the police could not immediately confirm whether the act was actually committed by herdsmen as no one has been arrested in connection with it and no one was seen at the scene when policemen got there.

Only last week, a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Samuel Afolayan, said on Wednesday that herdsmen had destroyed about 45 hectares of his 500-hectare farm.

Afolayan’s cry is coming on the heels of fresh attacks by herdsmen in Benue State during which five people reportedly died.

The former naval boss explained that the cattle rearers burnt about 20 hectares of orange farm, 20 hectares of cassava farm and five hectares of palm farm.

He lamented that he lost more than N200m.

He spoke to journalists at Ibbo-Ile, in the Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State.

He stated that his farmland had been under constant threat by the cattle rearers.

According to him, the herdsmen have been burning and destroying his farm for the past 10 years, adding that the losses were monumental.

Conducting journalists round the latest damage on the farm, he lamented that the destruction had been a setback to his quest to contribute to food security.

The ex-Naval boss said, “It (the destruction) has become an annual routine. This will be the first time of letting people know about what has been happening in the last 10 years. The cow rearers have been damaging my crops