We are under siege of gunmen, we need help —Ekiti communities cry out

The people of Ikole, Oye, Moba and Ilejemeje Local Government Areas of Ekiti North senatorial district are living in distress and apprehension following continuous attacks on the areas by gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen.

The attacks, which include , kidnappings, killings, farm invasion and raping have continued unabated in these communities with little or no efforts from the authorities to curtail the menace. Travellers, traditional rulers, farmers and residents had been victims of the attacks, which many believed if not nipped in the bud would have adverse effects on the socio-economic development of the areas.

In the last few months, communities mostly agrarian in these council areas, have witnessed series of attacks mostly kidnappings where several millions of naira were collected by the gunmen as ransom.  As a result of the constant attacks by the herdsmen, many of the citizens have abandoned their farm lands over fear of being killed or kidnapped by the gunmen.

Saturday Tribune gathered that the insecurity has continued unabated in those areas due to little or no presence of security forces in the affected communities. Majority of the communities in the council areas are without a visible police presence, not even police post thereby making them prone to attacks from the gunmen.

Investigations have also shown that being in the border areas to Kwara and Kogi states, the influx of herdsmen and gunmen from the northern states has also been identified as the cause of the constant mayhem on the people. These ‘foreigners’ have unfettered access to the areas thereby making it difficult to track and arrest them as they would easily escape through the forest to the two states.

The reoccurring cases of insecurity in the areas have also been traced to what the people described as lack of political will and efforts from the state government over the years to the plights of the people and crush the bandits. Besides, the race for the June 18 governorship election and the 2023 general election, according to the residents, have also distracted the authorities from rolling out the needed strategies in curtailing what has now become a daily threat in the zone.

On January 31, five travellers including a former chairman of Ilejemeje LGA, Adegoroye were ambushed and kidnapped along Isan-Ekiti – Iludun road at about 6pm on the day. After paying undisclosed amount of ransom, they were released about five days later.

Also, on February 27, the Attah of Ayede-Ekiti, Oba Abdul-Mumini was shot and escaped being abducted by the gunmen terrorising the axis. The first class traditional ruler, who was said to be returning from a meeting in Ijero was attacked along the Isan-Iludun road.  Though, he escaped the attempted kidnap, he spent days in the hospital treating the gunshots wounds.

A cleric in one of the pentecostal churches was kidnapped during a vigil in his church in Oke-Ako community, in Ikole on March 14. Though fate and fortune smiled on him, as he escaped from the kidnappers’ den somewhere in a Kwara forest when the gunmen was said to have slept off in the night, he was made to trek in the forest for twenty four hours after he was seized.

On March 20, a middle-age man identified simply as Idowu, was kidnapped at about 6:30pm along Ikole-Ijesa-Isu road when he was travelling in his vehicle. After spending about four days, the kidnappers released him to his family after they reportedly received N750,000, cigarettes, can of beers, noddles, bread and other food items as ransom.

A 75-year old farmer, Adesoye Oguntayo on March 28 escaped death in his farm in Oke Ako after he was attacked by those he identified as herdsmen. He suffered machete injuries to his head and was rushed to the hospital where he is still recuperating as of the time of this report.

Recounting his ordeal, the Septuagenarian said: “ “I did not do anything to provoke them (the herders) or warrant the attack. Naturally, whenever I see Fulani herdsmen, I try to play with them because I can speak their language to some extent.

“I was in the farm where I was picking cashew nuts. The Fulani herdsmen numbering about five were passing by with their cattle, I greeted the herdsmen, but none of them answered. In the process, one of them started beating me with the pastoral stick, when the stick broke, he drew his machete and started hitting it on my head and inflicted deep cuts on my head.”

On his part, a community leader in Oke Ako, Sola Olaoye lamented that the gunmen have driven the people away from the farms, a development he said was affecting the livelihood of the people who depend solely on the farm produce to meet up with their needs.

According to him: “Fulani herdsmen have driven our people away from their farms, nobody goes there for farming activities again, what you see people do there now is to pick cashew. The activities of the herders in the aspect of attack on the residents are disturbing and dreadful. Apart from their evil in the farms, there were even occasions they came to town to unleash terror on the people.”

The Youth Leader, Oke Ako community, Samuel Babatunde, while lamenting the attack and indeed the siege that the herders had laid on the community, appealed to the government to beef up security in the area.

“We urge the government to appeal to the leadership of the Fulani herders to call the cattle rearers to order so that there can be peace and security in our area and as well for our people to return to the farms to boost our economy.

“We appeal to the government to let them know that they should leave the farms for the farmers to grow their crops. None of us kills their cows or attacks them because they are fully armed. A cattle rearer that carries machetes and guns has an ulterior motive.

“We plead with the government to talk to the herders’ leadership and as well beef up security in this area. In the entire Ikole Local Government, it is only Ikole Ekiti and Ijesa Isu Ekiti that have police presence. All other communities that make up the other local government do not have any police presence. We are not secured and these people are weekly if not daily attacking our people, « he said.

Also speaking, the spokesperson, Ekamefa Communities, comprising the six towns in the area, Abayomi Oluwafemi, said: “It is the same thing we have been appealing to the government for. The promises of the government to secure our people have not been fulfilled.

“These attacks are on a daily basis. Many more are happening in the bush. We are talking about the case of Pa Oguntayo because he was inflicted with machete cuts. There are people who no longer go to farm because of fear of attack.

“There are those that cattle destroyed their farms. There are people who are now indebted through destruction of their crops and can no longer feed their families,” Oluwafemi said.

Disturbed by the trend and to call government’s attention to their plights, youths in the affected communities in the council areas staged a peaceful protest last week, demanding immediate action from security agencies and concerned authorities.

Speaking during the protest, leader of the protesting youths, Toba Fatunla, lamented what he called worsening insecurity in the area, especially the repeated onslaughts of kidnappers in the area, soliciting creation of military checkpoints in the zone.

He called on the state government under the leadership of Governor Kayode Fayemi to pay more attention to Ikole axis of 23 communities, while charging security operatives to intensify more efforts by flushing out the perpetrators.

According to him, “the issue of insecurity in our local government areas is now at an alarming rate. You will have to think twice if you want to travel from one community to the other.

“It is very important we have first hand reports concerning  security in our communities and that is why we have to dialogue with the security agencies because we are aware of the huge efforts of government at ensuring the security of lives and property.

“As youths in the community, it’s our commitment to keep tasking security agencies to do  more and police our communities. We urge government at all levels to support and supply the needed materials to security agencies to immediately help halt or douse the tension in Ikole local government.”

As part of measures to address the worsening security, the 25 traditional rulers in Ikole council area under the coordination of Oba Joseph Adelola Adedeji, the Olootunja of Ootunja Ekiti met on Thursday where the issue of insecurity was extensively discussed. Although details of the meeting have not been made public, the concerned traditional rulers called for more concerted efforts from security agencies and the government in a bid to address the disturbing situation in the zone.

We are mapping out strategies to secure the zone — Amotekun commander

Speaking on the issue, the commander of Amotekun corps in the state, Brigadier General Joe Komolafe (retd) said the entire axis is witnessing increase in kidnappings because the council areas have borders with Kwara and Kogi States.

He said, “ My men are always on alert to combat these criminal elements in that particular zone and we are recording successes in this aspect because we are neutralising them in most cases.

“That axis seems to be unsafe because of our boundaries with Kogi and Kwara States. So, immediately the kidnappers grab their victims, within 15 minutes, they would have driven them out of Ekiti and to a terrain that is hilly and difficult to navigate.

“Another crisis we are facing is the fact that the kidnappers appear to have informants among the locals, who gave them information about our movements. But whatever happens, we are mapping out strategies to checkmate their activities in the areas.”

We are worried with latest attacks —Ekiti govt

The state Commissioner for Information, Akin Omole, told Saturday Tribune that the government was doing everything possible to address the situation, but lamented that the state government is handicapped in the deployment of the security agencies to the area.

The Commissioner explained that, “the issue of security is a very delicate one and you know that it is not like in the education sector where government will have direct intervention by building schools and the rest but when it comes to security, the government has to intervene through other agencies like the police, department of state services, NSCDC and the military.

“We are not the direct implementor of programmes in the aspect of security. We only give the required supports for these agencies and don’t forget most of these agencies are federal government owned agencies.

“What we do with these is not about publicity, but I can assure you clearly that the situation in that area is giving us concerns as well, we will continue to support these agencies to achieve desired results.

“You know if it is education now, the Commissioner for Education will visit the place and do other things, but when it is security, you know it is the Commissioner of Police that will implement anything relating to the police. The needed support from the government is being done but the implementation is carried out by these agencies and that is why we have no benefits of accessing access the capacity or otherwise of these agencies. We are neither the appointor nor do we have any disciplinary control.”

Criminal elements will soon be flushed out of Ekiti —Police

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) ASP Sunday Abutu has said that the command was doing everything possible to stem the tide of kidnappings and other crimes not only in the zone but the entire state.

Abutu pleaded with the citizens to always support the police with relevant information on activities of strangers and criminal elements in their communities, adding that they would collaborate with other security agencies to curtail any breach of security in the state.

The PPRO said: “The command is pledging that the command will continue to meticulously work round the clock to ensure that the state is free of criminal elements while imploring members of the public to give necessary and timely information to the police and other relevant security agencies that could lead to the arrest of criminal suspects across the State.”