BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE, IBADAN
Some aggrieved residents of Igbeti in Olorunsogo Local Government Area of Oyo State have petitioned the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ngozi Onadeko, on the alleged attacks of residents of the community by a group of youths engaging in violence in the town.
The Point learnt that some residents of the community, led by Peter Olaoluwa of Olaoluwa Motors, brought their complaints to the CP at the Eleyele Police Command, Ibadan, the state capital, on August 24, alleging Igidaduro of assaulting and threatening them recently while engaging in their businesses in Igbeti.
An electronic copy of the petition obtained by our correspondent last week indicated that Igidaduro and other members of his group, on Monday, June 28, assaulted Olaoluwa, a car dealer and Pa Paul Olawoyin, at the sawmill in Igbeti while trying to buy some planks.
It was gathered that the attack followed an allegation which Olaoluwa levelled against Igidaduro that the lives of the inhabitants of the community were being endangered as a result of the reported face-off between Igidaduro, his group, and the men of the Nigerian Customs Service in the community.
According to the petition, there was a fiasco between Igidaduro and his men and a team of Customs men on patrol, sometimes in June, which set the town into jitters.
Olaoluwa alleged that “Igidaduro and his boys were trouble mongers. He often engaged in trouble with the Customs and that really worries us in the community. We don’t want the type of tragic occurrence that happened between the Customs men and some people in Iseyin community to happen here in Igbeti. You will recall that some lives were lost in crossfire between the Customs and some men in Iseyin recently. We don’t want that here.
“I reported the matter at the Police Station in Igbeti/Olorunsogo. On Monday, July 5, I went to the sawmill at Oke General in Igbeti. There, some fierce-looking thugs accosted us and were about to beat us but we managed to drive out of the scene. In the process, my car, a 2010 Toyota Corolla, was hit with a club.
“We reported the matter to some of the elders in the community and the police. We also brought it to the notice of the CP so that Igidaduro could be called to order.”
However, when called for reaction to the issue, Igidaduro denied the allegations saying that Olaoluwa was only trying to make a mountain from a molehill.
Igidaduro said, “I can’t really understand why he is talking like this. Olaoluwa’s claim is false and unfounded. Simply put, Olaoluwa and I had a little difference which we tried to settle. He took me to the police station and we talked over it.
“It is because he is rich; he has money so he wants to use it on me. I don’t cause trouble as he alleged. Nobody has any reason to make trouble with the situation in the society. I am a farmer. Everybody is just managing to make ends meet; I am not looking for people’s trouble.”
When called to confirm CP’s receipt of the complaint, the Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command, Adewale Osifeso, could not confirm it immediately as he was busy with pressing security engagements.
However, he assured our correspondent that he would get back in due course.
