Residents of Igangan in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State on
Sunday recounted their ordeals in the hands of Fulani herdsmen.
The community leaders,
who spoke during a visit of the state government delegation to the town,
stated that they had paid a total of N50m as ransoms for kidnappings carried
out by herdsmen in the community.
The community also presented to the delegation, pictures and other evidence of ransoms paid
to the herdsmen.
They accused the Seriki Fulani of complicity in the negotiation of ransoms.
The delegation comprising officials of the state and the new
Commissioner of Police in the state Command, Mrs Ngozi Onadeko, on Sunday,
visited Ibarapa where violence erupted on Friday over kidnappings and killings
by herdsmen.
Recall that there was violence at Igangan on Friday when a
popular Yoruba freedom fighter, Sunday Adeyemo, well known as Sunday Igboho,
alongside his followers, stormed the Fulani settlement in the ancient town to
eject Seriki Fulani, Salihu Abdukadir, and herdsmen accused of perpetrating
crimes ranging from kidnappings, killings, rape to invasion of farmlands with
their cattle.
During the crisis, the Seriki Fulani of Igangan and his
family members were evicted from the town and their property torched.
According to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to
state Governor, Mr Taiwo Adisa, Igangan
community leaders on Sunday stated that besides the payment of N50m as
ransoms, 15 women were raped by the herders
in the town.
But Fulani leaders, who attended the meeting, begged for forgiveness,
saying the Fulani were ready for peaceful co-existence with their hosts.
The Secretary of Igangan Development Advocates, Lawal Akeem, said the people were tired of
the antics of the Seriki Fulani of Igangan, whom he accused of complicity in different
kidnap cases.
He also said that the community had been forced to pay about
N50 million in ransoms for different cases of kidnapping, while also accusing
Fulani herders of regularly vandalising farms and raping women of the
community.
A youth in the town, Taiwo Adeagbo, said that no fewer than
15 women had been raped in recent weeks.
A member of the state House of Assembly, Peter Ojedokun,
also told the delegation that the peace in Ibarapaland had been stirred by the
Fulani herders with the incessant attacks on members of the community,
kidnappings and other crimes.
LG caretaker
chairman, community leader accuse Seriki Fulani of complicity
The Caretaker Chairman of Ibarapa North-West Local Council
Development Area, Okediji Olusegun, also corroborated the allegations levelled
against the Seriki Fulani of Igangan, saying that the Seriki had been fingered
in the series of security challenges in the area many times.
Fulani leaders beg
for forgiveness, pledges peaceful coexistence
Two Fulani leaders, the Seriki Fulani of Igbo Ora, Alhaji
Idris Abubakar, and the Seriki Fulani of Eruwa, Alhaji Sule Mohammed, solicited
for forgiveness, assuring the forum that they would facilitate peaceful
coexistence in Ibarapaland.
Also during the meeting, those who paid ransoms to the
bandits presented pictoral evidence to back up their claims.
The traditional ruler of Igangan, the Asigangan of Igangan,
Oba Abdulazeez Adeoye, whose cousin was kidnapped tendered the evidence of the
ransom he paid to secure his release.
Residents also stormed the venue of the meeting with
photographs of those who were killed and those who suffered attacks in the
hands of criminal herdsmen.
Oba Adeoye confirmed to one of our correspondents that
victims and their families came to the meeting with photographs to back up
their claims.
He said, “Our people brought photos. I also showed the
evidence of ransom paid for one of my children.”
Fulani still in
Igangan unmolested despite Seriki’s absence
It was gathered
that despite that Seriki Fulani in Igangan had fled, there were still some
Fulani living in the midst of the people in the town unmolested.
The Convener Igangan Development Advocates, Mr Oladiran
Oladokun, confirmed this to one of our correspondents.
Some youths were also bearing placards, with inscriptions,
which condemned the atrocities perpetrated by herdsmen in the community.
The Commissioner of Police, who led senior police officers,
including Deputy Commissioners of Police
and Mobile Police Commanders on a tour of Igangan, Tede and Ago Are
communities, urged the residents to toe the path of peace.
She expressed the readiness of the police to carry out a
thorough investigation to ensure justice for victims of kidnappings, rape and
other crimes committed in the areas.
While addressing traditional rulers, government officials
and Fulani leaders in Igangan, Onadeko said, “We have come to assess and listen
to you over the incident. I want to appeal to everyone of us to be calm and
ensure there is peace. If there is no peace in the community, there won’t be
growth and development.
“I want to appeal to the youth. We have listened and they
have interpreted all your complaints and I want to say you should not spoil
your case by using force. We are a new team. Bring out all the cases you have,
put them in an orderly manner and we will make sure that justice is done.
“It does not matter where you come from – whether you are from
Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa. Actually, we have the good and bad ones. Criminality is
not only ascribed to a particular ethnic group, it cuts across all the ethnic
groups.”
The Special Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on Security,
Commissioner of Police Fatai Owoseni (retd.), who led the government’s
delegation, urged community leaders, youths and Hausa-Fulani residents to
eschew violence and live in peace.
Stating that nobody should take the law into his own hands,
Owoseni stressed the need for the people to be vigilant in order to identify
criminal elements among them for prosecution.
He debunked insinuations that the Makinde-led government had
abandoned the people to their fate, adding that at least, 51 suspected
kidnappers, rapists and bandits from the Ibarapa and Oke Ogun axes were in
police net.
Owoseni, who said, “If you see something, say something,”
added that government would ensure that in the communities.
The Olugbon of Orile Igbon, Oba Francis Alao, who is also the Deputy Chairman of Oyo State
Council of Traditional Rulers, appealed for peace, saying that the state could
only develop in an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence.
Also in a statement on Sunday, Onadeko vowed that those
responsible for the arson and other criminal activities in the town would be
apprehended and brought to justice.
She said this on Sunday in a statement by the Police Public
Relations Officer in the state, Mr Olugbenga Fadeyi.
Recall that the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra,
Nnamdi Kanu, had earlier warned the CP against being used to arrest Igboho.
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