JTF intercepts ‘hundreds of migrating herdsmen’ in Kwara

The Joint Task Force (JTF) in Kwara says it has intercepted “hundreds of herdsmen”, who intended to settle down in the state.

The JTF is made up of officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Nigerian Army and the police.

Babawale Afolabi, NSCDC spokesperson, in a statement on Wednesday in Ilorin, the Kwara capital, said the herders were stopped at Erinle-Offa axis.

According to NAN, the herdsmen were said to be with their cattle and were heading towards the boundary shared between Kwara and Osun states.

He said the herders were on their way to Ajase-Ipo, a town in lfelodun LGA of Kwara.

“On Aug. 4, suspected Fulani herdsmen in their hundreds were intercepted at Erinle, a border town in Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara,” the statement reads.

“The suspected herdsmen were later led to Ajase-Ipo by the JTF where further background checks and profiling were being carried out by the appropriate security operatives.”

He, however, said that the herdsmen had been allowed to remain in Ajase-Ipo pending the time background checks would be concluded.

Afolabi added that more security personnel had been deployed in and around the town.