Roaming elephants have reportedly destroyed farmlands and also injured a farmer in the Itashin area in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State.
A lawmaker representing Ijebu-East constituency at the state House of Assembly, Sola Adams, disclosed this during the plenary in Abeokuta on Thursday.
The lawmaker described the recent incident where elephants attacked villagers in his constituency as “worrisome”.
The lawmaker stated that the injured farmer is receiving treatment at Ijebu Ode General Hospital, calling on the necessary agency to do the needful and return the elephants to where they should be.
The Speaker, Olakunle Oluomo, condemned the invasion of elephants into farmlands to the extent of injuring a farmer.
Oluomo however cautioned the people to stop further encroachment into the natural habitat of elephants in the area.
He complained that the elephants had left their habitat, attacking people and destroying the farmlands in the local government area.
According to him, the issue of elephants’ incursion into town which occurred in Itasin in Ijebu East required that the state Ministries of Agriculture and Forestry engage the Nigerian Conservative Foundation towards preserving the species and the entire ecosystem.
It was gathered that in 2018, a herd of elephants migrated from the Omo Forest Reserve into Itashin forest, a border community between Ogun and Lagos states.
Due to the migration, the wild animals have been roaming around, destroying farmlands in the area.
Last year, a 10-year-old male elephant died in the area having sustained injuries from a gunshot allegedly fired by hunters.
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