Herdsmen burn farmland of ex-naval chief in Ilorin

Samuel Afolayan, a former chief of naval staff, says the destruction and burning of his farmland by herdsmen is an annual routine.

Speaking with journalists on Wednesday in Kwara state, Afolayan said herdsmen burnt 20 hectares of orange and cassava plantation.

He said the incident has been reoccurring for at least 10 years.

The former chief of naval staff said his loss is about N200 million.

“The destruction and burning of my farmland has become an annual routine. This will be the first time of letting people know what has been happening in the last 10 years,” he said.

“It is the cow-rearers that have been damaging my things and right now there about three cases in court. Every year, my farm is burnt and we believed that it is not deliberate when it first started. They will go and arrest them, they will go to the local chiefs and friends and beg them.

“When I looked at the people that were engaged in this act, I found that they are people of low means. I will release them. But as times went on, I discovered that these boys are being sponsored by people of means and outside Kwara state. I have of recent somebody who is put in detention who is from Zamfara state.

“The one that is in court is from Niger state. So most of the damages I continued to have are from the north. They carry their cows, mindless of the size of what you have or get, they destroyed it with impunity.”