The order for herdsmen to vacate Ibarapa in Oyo State and indeed the South West given by Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho generated serious controversy that is yet to be forgotten.

Sunday Igboho gave that vacation order after repeated reports of how herdsmen attack, kidnap, rape and kill people in Ibarapa in Oyo State and some other areas in the South West. After the long wait on the government to take action against the herdsmen failed, Sunday Igboho and his men took it upon themselves to protect their people and their land from the herdsmen.

As the controversy continues, three states in the South West have taken action against the herdsmen in their various states. The action is to stop the ''killer herdsmen and their violent activities in the states.'' The action also involves ensuring that the herdsmen leave the states' forest reserves as a matter of great necessity. The states involved are Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states respectively.

Recall that the first South West Governor to go tough on the herdsmen was Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State. He gave the herdsmen vacation order to leave the forest reserves in his state, stop movement of cattle within the cities in the state and to also stop using underage cattle grazers. That order by Akeredolu also generated serious controversy like the one given by Sunday Igboho. Akeredolu did not back down. He and other South West Governors had a meeting with the leaders of the cattle breeders association of Nigeria known as MACBAN (Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria).

Now that some other Governors want to take the issue of herdsmen serious in their states, they are deploying the Western Nigeria Security Network aka Amotekun to guard their forests and drive out the herdsmen. According to the Special Adviser to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on Security Matters, Alhaji Jimoh Dojumo, there is no going back on the order by the Governor asking the herdsmen to vacate the forest reserves In Ondo State. Dojumoh made it clear that the Amotekun operatives are patrolling the forests and driving out the herdsmen there.

Supporting Dojumo's claim, the Commander of the Ondo Amotekun, Chief Adetunji Adeleye stated that the operatives of Amotekun are already making arrests in the forests while some of the herdsmen are leaving the state on their own. He added that they are making progress and they will continue to flush out the herdsmen from the state as it a continuous exercise.

Also, the Commander, Ekiti Amotekun Corps, Brigadier General Joe Komolafe (retd.) spoke on the issue too. He stated that the security operatives in state are monitoring their forests to ensure that they are free from killers. He added that the operatives of Amotekun collaborate with the Amotekun in Ondo and Osun in doing the monitoring and information sharing exercises to ensure that they do a thorough job.

From the way things are going, the Governors are now taking the killings and other nefarious activities of some of the herdsmen serious and they are taking good measures to combat the herdsmen. Monitoring, guarding the forests, arresting the herdsmen and flushing them out are all good steps in the right direction to ensure that the states are safe if the herdsmen refuse to do the needful.

Do not also forget that Sunday Igboho and his men are also moving in to take action aimed at combating the herdsmen especially in the major troubled areas in the South West States. All these are to ensure that the people live in peace and go about their businesses freely.

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