BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
Five days after the mindless bloodshed that led to the untimely death of at least 11 persons in their prime, Igangan community continues to count its losses as it bleeds and cries for help. Indeed, for the residents, life has ceased to be meaningful as the aged buried the youths. Fathers and mothers had mourned the death of their children in a most grievous circumstance. Peace of the graveyard now pervaded the air in Igangan town as they recall their jeopardy.
Put in the words of the Asigangan of Igangan, Oba Lasisi Adeoye, whose shelter, chieftaincy beads, crowns and other paraphernalia of office perished in fire as his palace was torched by evil marauders, “the unwarranted attack on our community is mindless. It shows that humanity has lost its soul in Nigeria. The essence of our corporate existence has been defeated. Man has ceased to be man as evil continues to triumph over good. Those who hid under the shield of the night to wreak havoc are cowards who would not boldly show their faces in the open because they are evil”.
The sight of mourners who thronged the burial sites of the 11 people who were murdered in cold blood in the wee hour of Sunday, June 6, was horrific. The patches of blood of the dead on major streets and courtyards in Igangan leave bad memories on the minds of the inhabitants of the land.
For the adjoining communities, the tragedy that rocked Igangan has left them in fear and discomfort. A resident of Ayete, who gave his name as Tunde Emiola, said, “The situation in Ibarapa is very unsettling and nothing serious is being done by the authorities to forestall a reccurrence. Our brothers are being killed, our fathers are being maimed in the jungles and are being prohibited from going to their farms while our mothers and sisters are being raped on the farms and on their way back home.
“We are, indeed in distress here as a result of fear of uncertainty. We learnt that the marauders have surrounded our communities as heavily armed men wander freely along bush paths. People can no longer sleep for fear of possible attacks and killings”
“Now, the attackers are being emboldened to wreak more havoc because they were neither repelled nor arrested or brought to book. The marauders have now raised the stake of attacks by storming our communities to kill our people and burn their houses.
“We are, indeed in distress here as a result of fear of uncertainty. We learnt that the marauders have surrounded our communities, and are heavily armed, wandering freely along bush paths. People can no longer sleep for fear of possible attacks and killings. It has been a very harrowing experience and fearful for us. Farmers cannot go to farm and that would mean hunger as the same people who scared us away from our farms are also threatening to stop food from being brought down south,” he said.
However, while the people expressed distrust that the authorities were insensitive to their plight, the state government said it had not folded its arms. Governor Seyi Makinde indicated a day after the attack that security agents, led by the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ngozi Onadeko, had visited the community in order to comb the forests.
Although the statement by the governor provoked angry reaction from the public as many reasoned that the administration had been passive and insensitive about security issue, the governor reiterated his resolve to curb insecurity in the state.
During his visit to families of victims of the attacks in Igangan on Tuesday with top government functionaries and the Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin, the Governor said that he would empower local security and vigilante groups to safeguard the lives of residents of the state. He stressed that his administration would do everything possible to prevent a recurrence of violent attacks on Igangan and other communities in the state.
Makinde said the government had been able to identify areas where there were lapses.
He said, “I have told your chairman that all the vigilantes and security guards, the government will be responsible for them. This is your government; please give me the opportunity to do the needful so that a meeting like this would not come up again.
“I urge you to give me that chance to make the issue of insecurity here a thing of the past. Don’t take laws into your hands. We have identified where there are hitches. We are supposed to be going to our farms by now because of the favourable weather. But hold me accountable, I have nowhere to go.
“I believe there are certain things we put in place, which we thought would work but unfortunately, they did not work. Please, give me some time, everything will be resolved. It is not a situation where there is any magic we can do. We have to work through this and work together through it. But I promise you, this is the last time anything like this will ever happen here. It is a promise I am making to you, and it is a promise I will come through with.
“Please, don’t take laws into your hands. I urge all the families that lost their loved ones to this attack, because sometimes, emotion can really be high. Please, give us the opportunity to resolve this and make this place better for you. You must have seen the light-up project we embarked on. We are doing it for us to be able to see everywhere, whether it is day or night. Well, there are people who don’t want good things for our state and country at large, but I believe that God will show us mercy.”
“Once again, I beg of you; give us the opportunity to come back and rebuild things and put a more solid architecture such that you will be able to go to farms and do whatever you want to do without fear. But I should be held accountable. I am responsible for this and will do everything within my power to make sure that it will not happen again,” the Governor said.
In a keynote address at the maiden edition of Governor Seyi Makinde National Democratic Summit held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, on Tuesday, Makinde expressed the frustrations in addressing insecurity in the land. “When the state governors become the actual Chief Security Officers in charge of the security personnel in their state, they can quickly respond to security challenges. Yes, we will continue to do our best. We were able to get Amotekun off the ground and it is in operation now but there are several limitations to what Amotekun can do right now and the types of firearms they can carry. If we are given the authority and licence, I will also buy AK47 rifles for Amotekun,” he said.
However, for critics and the opposition political parties in Oyo State, the governor had just spoken within the threshold of politics that does not give hope. The All Progressives Congress, which is the leading opposition political party in the state, for instance, had noted that the governor lacked the will power and idea to walk his talk.
The APC in Oyo State described the killing of no fewer than 11 people by suspected herdsmen in the Oyo community, as one mayhem too many, accusing the state government of failing the people. The party, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Abdul-Azeez Olatunde, queried the use of the monthly security vote being collected by the governor. It noted that Makinde failed to channel the state’s security vote towards securing the lives and property of residents and indigenes of Ibarapaland effectively as sworn to on oath.
The statement read in parts, “For how long should Governor Seyi Makinde continue his buck passing? What is the essence of the monthly security vote our governor collects if it could not be channeled towards securing the lives and properties of the residents and indigenes of Oyo State?
‘Retrospectively, all governments would always have its own challenges but failure to nip the festering challenges in the bud is what differentiates failed government as being witnessed in Oyo State under Seyi Makinde.
“We urge the governor to call a security summit in order to find lasting solutions to the security challenges facing us in Oyo State and forget the rhetorics of having Amotekun and Operation Burst that have shown to be ineffective so far.”
Among other opinion givers, a prominent critic and columnist, Festus Adedayo, was unequivocal on the need for the state government to forge an effective means to addressing security challenges besetting the state.
He noted that, given the intelligence that the Chairman of the Oyo State Security Network, General Ajibola Toogun, (retd) earlier gave, that some marauding foreign herdsmen men had infiltrated the South-West forests with particular mention of Oke Ogun axis of the state, the governor, in concert with security agencies, should have been proactive to the signal rather than being reactive to the killings.
In the opinion of a Yoruba pressure group, the Agbekoya Warriors, the continued killings and repression of the people of the South should be urgently addressed before the people resort to self help for protection of life and property.
The Agbekoya National Coordinator and Jagunmolu Agbekoya of Yorubaland, Prince Kunle Adelakun, a.k.a
Eruobodo, said in a statement made available to The Point, said, “We, Agbekoya Warriors under the leadership of High Chief Olalere Ayalu, are well prepared to defend the Yoruba Nation with or without the support of our politicians. We had done it in the past and we would do it again without a gun shot.
“We can no longer fold up our arms seeing our people being killed by the marauding herdsmen. Enough of this wanton bloodshed and killings in the country. The Yoruba people in the South-West are sick and tired of it. On this score, the Agbekoyas, the Kabiyesis and the South-West governors are on the same page.”
Meanwhile, the people of Igangan, having resolved to oiling their local security apparatus in a bid to curtail further attacks, have appealed to stakeholders and sons and daughters of the community in the Diaspora, to rise to their aid for protection from attacks by the dare-devil killer gang.
