Some aggrieved residents and youths of Igangan in Ibarapa North Local Council of Oyo State, yesterday, welcomed Governor Seyi Makinde with placards, demonstrating their displeasure with the way the security situation in the region was handled.

The inscriptions on the placards include “Ibarapa Land Not Fulani RUGA”, “Fulani Must Stop Raping Our Women”, “No More Seriki, No More Carnage” “Stop Fulani Massacre of Ibarapa People”, among others.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Igangan Development Advocates (IDA), Abideen Oguntowo, who spoke with our correspondent, said the residents used the placards to communicate their grievances to the governor.

Besides, indigenes and residents of the community have said they will resort to self-help and defence if the governor fails to guarantee the protection of their lives and property.

They also demanded immediate arrest of Seriki Fulani of Oyo, Abdulkadri Saliu, and other herdsmen terrorising the people of the area.

The residents said there was no laid-down functional security architecture in place in Ibarapa in form of checkpoints, a joint team of Amotekun and Police Security Surveillance Network, patrol teams and the likes.

President, Igangan Development Advocates, Wale Oladokun, in a letter sent to the governor, dated January 31, 2021, but made available to our correspondent in Ibadan, yesterday, said the onus of protecting them lay with the governor as Chief Security Officer of the state, saying there is no point going to see the President.

The letter reads in part: “Even though promises were made by Your Excellency to rejig the security architecture of the zone through your delegation team detailed to the region immediately after the ejection of Seriki Saliu by Sunday ‘Igboho’ and its aftermath, the Amotekun operatives deployed to the zone have not been seen to be performing the primary functions for which they were deployed.

“If no meaningful and effective security is put in place to guarantee the safety of lives and property of Igangan and Ibarapa people between the time His Excellency is reading this letter and Wednesday, February 3, 2021, the people would have been left with no other option than to take to self-defence using whatever means necessary or deemed fit.

“We demand the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Fulani kingpin simply known as “Wakil” as well as Seriki Fulani, Abdulkadiri Saliu, who have been terrorising the region and obstructing justice in the arrest of Fulani criminals so far made.

“We demand the payment of compensation and palliatives for the victims of Fulani attacks and their families. We vehemently reject the return of Seriki Fulani, Abdulkadri Saliu, to our land.”

The Ibarapa people also challenged Makinde to speed up action on the application of the already passed Anti-Open Grazing Law and its effective enforcement so as to clear doubts about the administration’s genuineness of disposition to the well-being, economic self-reliance and safety of the people.

The Guardian