BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
It was a tale of woes and helplessness as residents of Ilobu and Ifon communities in Osun State spoke of their travails following the bloody crisis that engulfed the two settlements in the past few days over land dispute.
No fewer than eight persons have been killed in the communal clash while others have been injured and several displaced.
Those killed were said to have been hit by stray bullets fired by the security operatives deployed to the affected communities, following the resumption of hostilities last Thursday.
It was a tensed situation as security operatives found it difficult to access both Ilobu and Ifon as they stayed at the entrance to the two communities while indigenes razed houses and maimed themselves.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Yemisi Opalola, said the people of the state accused the police of taking aides and not being proactive.
Opalola disclosed that some police officers were ambushed by hoodlums and shot, adding that, “they burnt a new patrol van of police.”
“They accused us of taking sides. It is unfortunate that the Monitoring Section van that was donated to us was burnt. Our four men are in hospital now, they were shot. The Divisional Police Officer of Ilobu was among those who were shot. He was shot in the hand. But thanks to God, they are all responding to treatment. They ambushed policemen when our men attempted to broker peace in the area,” she said.
The Otun-Jagun of Ilobu, Leke Ogunsola, who spoke to newsmen on behalf of Ilobu community, said four lives, including a baby, had been lost to the crisis on the side of the town.
Similarly, the Secretary of Ifon-Orolu Progressive Union, Board of Trustees, Jide Akinyooye, who addressed journalists on behalf of the Ifon community, said some had been killed while several houses were razed during the attack on the town.
He said, “The gazette that ceded parts of the land belonging to Ifon to Ilobu during Rauf Aregbesola’s regime has been causing the crisis. We are in danger. We have tried to avoid reprisal but the refusal of the Police to act may lead to another thing. Several houses were burnt.”
Akinyooye accused the Osun Sate Commissioner of Police, Kehinde Longe, of nonchalant attitudes towards the crisis and called for his removal.
He said there were about 21 policemen in the two communities and that they could not take the crisis, lamenting that outcries to the CP for reinforcement were not attended to.
“The question Orolu people are asking now is that do we really have a government? We are holding the CP responsible for the massacre and evil that happened in broad daylight. But we also hold the state government responsible. The source of this problem was traced to the government of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who made a gazette by ceding Olufon’s land to Irepodun without the consent of the people. That was how he created the problem just because Jare Adebisi, the then Deputy Chief of Staff, was part of the government.
“Now, we are helpless and we don’t know whether we have government, there is no security. Between Wednesday and Thursday night, property worth millions have been damaged. Police did nothing. How can they send 21 police officers to Orolu and Irepodun? I do not see the CP as a capable man. He did nothing. There were corpses on ground. The police people also need assistance because their men were wounded. Some government officials were seen leading the gunmen. The Vice Chairman of Irepodun was seen burning houses and killing people,” he claimed.
Proferring solutions to the dispute, Akinyooye said, “The gazette causing this crisis should be revisited. Governor Adeleke should correct the wrongs made by Aregbesola.”
As a result of the crisis, many residents of Ilobu and Ifon communities have lost their houses to arson while others were lucky to flee the communities before they were caught up in the onslaught.
When The Point visited the communities, it was found that residents of Ilobu and Ifon had moved out of the affected areas in large numbers to neighbouring towns and villages for safety. Corps members serving in the affected areas were being evacuated by the state government.
Residents of the communities have been thrown into more difficulty following the 24 hours dusk to dawn curfew declared by the state government as many have lamented hunger as a result of the inability to stock their homes before the hostilities resurged.
An indigene of Okanla community in Irepodun area of the state, Muideen Azeez, was weeping after his house was set ablaze during the crisis.
Azeez lamented, “I have lost everything I laboured for in life. My life is ruined and I don’t know how I will start taking care of my wife and children. All my savings were inside the house that has burnt. I built my house at Olowoporoku area of Okanla in Irepodun Local Government Area of Osun State. I was in Lagos before I arrived to protect my family when they told me of the crisis.”
Another displaced man, Tajudeen Ojasope, said he fled Ifon community by a whisker alongside his family members.
“I was almost killed while trying to escape my community. It was a horrible situation and I don’t pray that my enemies should experience it. We saw corpses of burnt people on our way out and we wept. We didn’t pick anything out and we are only left with the clothes we are wearing. We pray for peace,” he said.
Meanwhile, Governor Ademola Adeleke of the state said armed soldiers had been put on red alert to ensure orderliness and safety of people in the two communities.
Also, a combined team of State Security Service operatives, officers of the Nigeria Security And Civil Defense Corps and both mobile and conventional police officers had been drafted to the scene for peace maintenance.
The governor who said he had met with leaders of the two communities in his office as part of efforts to put a stop to the spate of killings and other destructive acts, described the killings in the towns as senseless.
Adeleke also passed a strong warning to the leaders of the affected communities to maintain peace and order.
He announced that the state government had taken over the disputed land and warned perpetrators of the inhuman acts to desist from engaging in further unholy acts, saying anyone caught amongst them would be made to face the wrath of the law.
