…say ‘We know their hideouts,’ comb bushes, forests for suspects
- We need gov’s approval to fully swoop on them- OPC leader
By TIMOTHY AGBOR, Osogbo
With the worsening spate of insecurity across the country and the siege being laid to the Ife-Ibadan Expressway lately by suspected Fulani herdsmen and kidnappers, resulting in killings on almost a daily basis on the highways traversing Osun State, the Yoruba militant group, Oodua Peoples Congress, a vigilance group and local hunters have picked up the gauntlet to secure the lives and property of motorists travelling on the road and residents living around the area.
Consequently, a combined team of the members of the OPC, the vigilance group and local hunters have stormed bushes and forests along the highways in the state to rout out the marauding Fulani herdsmen, kidnappers and other criminals terrorising and kidnapping road users and residents.
Lately, commuters plying Ife-Ibadan express road in Osun State have been gripped by the fear of falling victims to suspected Fulani herdsmen, who kidnap for ransom and brutally kill captives whose relations cannot not raise funds to secure their freedom.
Only last week, a civil servant, Mr. Adenipekun Ademiju, was shot dead by suspected Fulani herdsmen, who were robbing some commuters plying the Ife/Ibadan Road in Ikire, Osun State.
Ademiju was said to have been waiting for a bus that would transport him to Ibadan along the road in Ikire on that Wednesday morning before some heavily armed suspected Fulani herdsmen stormed out of the bush and started firing gunshots.
Ademiju, said to be a worker at Atakunmosa West Local Government Council in Osun, was unlucky as he was gunned down by the suspected highway robbers, our correspondent learnt.
Some other motorists plying the road were lucky enough as they sighted the suspected Fulani herdsmen from a distance to the scene of the robbery and quickly made u-turn to escape being caught.
According to an eyewitness, Ademiju was hit by stray bullets as the suspected robbers shot indiscriminately at vehicles to forcibly stop them.
He said, “Concerning the man killed by Fulani herdsmen, who normally rob on this road, the two of them were in the car; I think the bullets missed the target, who is the driver of the car, before killing the man.
“The robbers abandoned the corpse on the highway and went away with the car.”
The Public Relations Officer of the Osun State Police Command, Folasade Odoro, who confirmed the death of the civil servant, said Ademiju was killed around Ikoyi community.
But a traditional ruler, the Olukoyi of Ikoyi land, Oba Yisau Bamitale Otunla, said Ademiju was killed in Ikire around the premises of a popular construction company in Irewole Local Government Area of Osun State.
The state has also, in recent times, witnessed kidnappings of residents, including a traditional ruler, a chief hunter of a town, workers of Bowen University, lecturers, officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission and others.
Some of the victims, who were later freed by their abductors after their family members had paid heavy ransoms, disclosed that their abductors were Fulani herdsmen.
And to stem this worsening tide, members of the OPC, a vigilance group and some local hunters from Ikire and Apomu towns met and decided to comb bushes and forests in their communities in order to rout out the suspected killer-Fulani herdsmen and other criminals.
Armed with cutlasses, Dane guns and charms, the OPC operatives, the vigilance group members and local hunters combed the bushes along the express road for suspected herdsmen, kidnappers and robbers terrorising travelers on highways running through the state.
Meanwhile, the leadership of OPC in Osun State has said that it would have rid the state of criminals if Governor Gboyega Oyetola had given them the approval to wage a war against criminals in the state.
Speaking with our correspondent on the phone, the Chairman of OPC in Osun State, Prince Adedeji Aladesawe, claimed that his group knew the hideouts of the criminals terrorising the state.
Aladesawe said that the militant group only needed the governor’s approval to fully strike the suspected killer-herdsmen and kidnappers.
He noted that the National leader of OPC, who is also the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Aare Gani Adams, had, eight months ago, presented the report/recommendation of a peace and security summit the group held to state governments in the Southwest, but none of the state governors had acted since they received the report.
Aladesawe also expressed the readiness of the OPC to team up with vigilance groups and other local security agents to flush out criminals in Osun State, in particular, and the Southwest in general, but regretted that the South west state governors had not been supportive.
The OPC chairman said he had meetings with the traditional ruler of Ikoyi, a community close to Ikire, where the civil servant was gunned down, as well as vigilance groups on how to forestall future occurrence in the area.
He said, “We have been trying our best to wage a war against these herdsmen, but we have not received approval from government. We are ready to confront these criminals, but we are awaiting signal and approval from the governor (Oyetola). We know the routes of the bandits in Osun and we can apprehend them.
“Our leader, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, has presented the report of a peace and security summit that we held to state governors in the Southwest eight months ago; they are yet to work on it. We are ready to fight herdsmen but we are awaiting the approval of Mr. Governor.
“Saturday last week, myself, other OPC members and vigilance group members and the council chairman met with the Onikoyi of Ikoyi, Oba Yisau Bamitale Otunla, in his palace to discuss how to put an end to these marauding herdsmen attacking travelers on our highways.”
Recall that recently a security meeting, where recent incidents of criminal activities in Osun State were reviewed, was held and decisions taken to halt further attacks i n any part of the state.
Governor Oyetola chaired the meeting, which was attended by the heads of security and paramilitary outfits in the state- the police, the Army, the Air Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Immigration Service.
The Osun State Government did put its full weight behind the joint security team of the police, the military and paramilitary outfits to patrol the dark spots in the state and rout out criminals from their hideouts.
The mandate of the joint patrol team is to support the activities of the police “Operation Puff Adder,” which has raised the stake in the battle against kidnapping and other forms of attacks on people in the state.
