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By Lukman Olabiyi, Lagos
The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, has urged the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, to urgently redeploy the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mrs.Ngozi Onadeko, for effective security of the state.
The recent call came barely two weeks after Adams had called on the IGP and the Police Service Commission to look into the security situation in the state, including the various criminal activities of Fulani herdsmen that had taken over Ibarapa and its environs.
Adams made this known in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi, while playing host to a delegation of all Ibarapa indigenes led by Chairman of Ibarapa Hunters in Oke-Ogun, Alhaji Bilau Dare.
The meeting, which held at the Omole Phase II residence of the Aare Onakakanfo, was in response to the rising insecurity in Ibarapa and its environs.
Speaking shortly after the meeting, Adams said the meeting was to respond to the various security challenges in the area, adding that the delegation came to give an update on the security situation in Ibarapa and its environs.
Adams expressed displeasure at the way the Oyo State CP handles the security situation in the state, adding that the reports at his disposal indicate that the violent Fulani herdsmen are still on rampage in Oke Ogun, pointing out that the call for the redeployment of the CP became imperative in order to forestall further crisis in the area.
‘From the reports available to me today, I think the call for the redeployment of Oyo CP is long overdue. It is long overdue because nothing seems to have changed since the kidnap kingpin, Iskilu Wakili was arrested and handed over to the police,’ he said.
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‘It is sad that nothing has really changed. Up till today, cases of kidnappings and killings still continue unabated. That is to show that the CP has lost grip of the state. I said it the other time that Oyo state is too volatile for a gentle cop and everybody can see it now that the police boss cannot handle the security situation of a crisis prone state like Oyo, where crimes rate on a daily basis are very high and ridiculous.
‘So, I am appealing to the new acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, to listen to the cries of the people of Ibarapa who could no longer go to their farms and live their normal lives because of the fear of being kidnapped or killled by herdmen. All available evidences showed that the CP cannot handle the security challenges in the state.’
Meanwhile, the chairman of hunters in Ibarapa, Alhaji Bilau Dare, said the group came to visit the Aare Onakakanfo in order to find lasting solution to the security situation in the state.
The Ibarapa hunter boss expressed disappointment at the spate of insecurity in Oke Ogun, stressing that killings and Kidnappings in Ibarapa and its environs are getting worse daily, adding that he lost his younger brother, Mufutau Babarinde, as a result of herdsmen attacks.
‘I am bereaved.I lost my younger brother, Mufutau Babarinde. He was returning from his farm when four criminal herdsmen accosted him and hacked him to death. We have reported the case to the police and his remains had been deposited to morgue.
‘That is how it has been on daily basis. Kidnappers and killer herdsmen have taken over our farms and we couldn’t go to our farms any longer because of the fear of being kidnapped.’
The Oodua Peoples Congress(OPC) chieftain in Ibarapa, Olanrewaju Ogedengbe, lamented that despite the efforts of his members to support the police in curbing the spate of insecurity in the state, the police have failed to unravel those behind the various killings and kidnappings in Ibarapa and its environs.
‘It is unfortunate that our men are still in police custody. How do you explain the story of our men who risked their lives during a gun battle with the kidnappers and at the end of the encounter, the police arrested and detained them unjustly,’ Ogedengbe said.
