Communal war looms between 2 communities in Osun

From Lateef Dada, Osogbo

People of Ifon-Osun in Orolu Local Government of Osun State have alerted the state government and the security operatives over the looming resurgence of communal war between the town and Ilobu in Irepodun Local Government.

The community urged the government to caution Ilobu people and its monarch to avoid a renewed clash between the two communities and stop fanning the embers of discord.

The home secretary of Ifon-Osun community, Adejumo Adewuyi, who spoke at a press conference in Ifon-Osun, on Friday, refuted claims by the people of Ilobu that Olufon of Ifon-Osun, Oba Peter Ipadeola, is taking hostages of innocent people in conjunction with armed men or hit squads on daily basis.

According to Adewuyi, the statement attributed to Chiefs Jimoh Alade and Adegoke Ogunsola of Ilobu that purported nefarious activities and provocation by the people of Ifon-Osun led to the communal clashes that occurred between September 17 2023 and October 7 2023, was “untrue and total distortion of facts.

“We categorically state that the metropolis called Apiponroro and Alabata in which Ilobu illegally called Iludun and the rural districts like Isangbe, Gbere-Odofin, Oke-Ekutu, Kuti, Opapa, Alaiko, Osun-Eesa, Ebu-Oba, Oluronbi, Olode, Tegbe, Apata, Gbogbo, Mota, Pafa, Oguntunde, Kajola, Idi-Iroko and other adjoining villages and farm settlements do not belong to Olobu and they are not situate in Ilobu; but they all belong to Ifon-Osun community from time immemorial.

“Moreso, these areas mentioned above are under Olufon Wards Eight and Nine of Orolu Local Government Area, where the Osun governorship election rerun was held in 2018.

“We hereby call on the state government and the security agencies to discountenance these unwholesome and satanic allegations. In its stead, the government and the security agencies should turn their searchlights on the Olobu himself and his community and prosecute him for his propensity for giving false information to the security agencies and raising false alarms,” Adewuyi said.