Leaders, Youths Lament High Profile Killing In Ondo Community
Leaders and youths in Ifon Community, in the Ose council area of Ondo state, have cried out over high-profile killings by gunmen in the area.
Recall that a first-class traditional ruler, the Olufon of lfon Oba Israel Adegoke Adewusi was gruesomely murdered by suspected herdsmen at Elegbeka village while returning from a meeting in Akure, the state capital on November 26 last year.
Also, last week, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress in the state and a member of the state executive committee, Hon Dele Isibor, was shot dead by suspected kidnappers along Imoru road in Ifon town.
The Coordinator of Progressive Minds, Hon. Olaniyi Eni-Olotu at a meeting in lfon, who lamented the killings said that” the killing of Isibor which occurred last weekend, was coming when the area was yet to recover from the sudden killing of the Olufon of Ifon, late Oba Israel Adegoke Adeusi on the 26th of November, 2020 by yet to be identified gunmen at Elegbeka village while returning from a meeting in Akure
Eni-Olotu said that the community was again thrown into “another round of pandemonium on the 13th of June, 2021, when kidnappers struck again along Imoru road in Ifon town, shooting sporadically at all the vehicles plying the route last weekend.
‘”This unfortunate incidence led to the killing of the APC chieftain, Dele Isibor, having sustained severe injuries from the gunshot and four people were kidnapped by the gunmen.
” The influx of the heavily armed herdsmen from other neighbouring states into the forest reserves and farmland in and around the community is now making life miserable for farmers and the inhabitants of the area.
Eni-Olotu said it is so sad to note that the Police Divisional Headquarters in Ifon as well as the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ifon office have no functional patrol vehicles which constitutes a major challenge for the security agencies in doing their job effectively and efficiently.
He pleaded with the state government for special consideration to be given to Ifon indigenes for the recruitment into the Amotekun Corps, as they are more familiar with the terrain and work more to fight insecurity confronting the area.
The community, he added also 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 in order to 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.
One of the community leaders, Sunday Amudeli who spoke at the meeting said that Ifon community had been in the news for over a year as a result of insecurity and other wrong reasons either about killing or kidnapping.
Amudeli further stated that Ifon occupies a strategic location in the State, serving as a boundary to Edo and Ondo State.
“ 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.
Speaking on behalf of the Youths, Abdullahi Ekere said that they do not want to take law into their hands, hence they are calling on President Buhari, the IGP, Military and the state government to provide effective security in the area
