The people and residents of Ifon Community in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State have raised alarm over the increase in kidnapping and killings in the area, saying many people have been killed, attacked and abducted in the last few months.
The residents said famine was looming in the area following the invasion by armed men, who had forced farmers to abandon their farms for fear of being attack, while the criminals operated unhindered.
The community lamented the killing of the traditional ruler of the town, Oba Isreal Adeusi by some gunmen last November around the Elegbeka area while returning from a meeting in Akure, while a community leader and chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) Dele Isibor was shot dead by the criminals tormenting the area.
Speaking during a press conference in Ifon, the Coordinator of Progressive Minds, Hon. Olaniyi Eni-Olotu lamented that the armed men have been operating unhindered, saying the armed men were responsible for the kidnapping and armed robberies occurring in the community lately.
Eni-Olotu noted that there are no functional patrol vehicles at the Police Divisional Headquarters in Ifon as well as the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in the town, saying this has constituted a major challenge for the security agencies in doing their job effectively and efficiently.
He commended the present administration in the state over all the numerous developmental projects carried out in the town but called for the recruitment of the indigene of the town into the Ondo State Security Network Agency, codenamed Amotekun, as they are more familiar with the terrain and work more to fight insecurity confronting the area.
However, the community pleaded for the intervention of the President, Inspector General of Police and the Government to fish out the killers of Oba Israel Adegoke Adeusi and Dele Isibor and bring them to book without further delay.
“We also appeal that for the provision of patrol vehicles for the security agencies in Ifon to enhance their smooth operations of securing the land, also through the heavy deployment of security operatives, especially to the forest reserves.
“All illegal occupants of the forest reserves and farmlands must be chased out without further delay.”
Also speaking, a community leader, Mr Sunday Amudeli, who noted that Ifon occupies a strategic location in the State, serving as a boundary to Edo and Ondo State, had been in the news for over a year as a result of insecurity.
He said, “a Mobile Police Station is needed as a matter of urgency or an establishment of a Military barracks or a naval base. The community is conducive and is ready to provide the land for stability, peace and to maintain law and order.”
The Secretary of Ifon Security Committee, Mr Saliu Omotoso, appealed to the state government and security agencies to draft more men to the community to complement the local security to ensure the security of lives and property in the area.
“We enjoin all our brothers and sisters to let us join hands together to support the police so that they can checkmate these criminals,” he said.
While reacting to the issue, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Mr Tee-Leo Ikoro, said the security agencies were on top of the situation and assured that the kidnapping and attacks would soon be a thing of the past.
He appealed to the people of the community to provide information that can lead to the arrest of the criminals in order to flush them out of the state and said “The police are not magicians, it is the people that will give us information.”
He said, “Concerning the issue of the monarch that was killed last year, an investigative team is investigating the incident as ordered by the Commissioner of Police.”
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