Again Fresh Crisis Rocks Ondo Community, Two Persons Feared Dead

By Ayodele Oni

As Muslims round off the celebrations of Id fitr, signs of escalated crisis rocked the Ikare community in Akoko North local government as sounds of sporadic gunshots rented the air.

Ikare Akoko, one of the commercial nerve centres of Ondo State is one of the Muslim dominated communities in the state.

It was gathered that shop owners and market women hurriedly closed their shops while commercial activities were halted as a result of the situation.

It was further learnt that two persons have been shot dead on Monday, while houses were burnt during the mayhem that is ongoing between two warring parts of the community.

Meanwhile, some residents lamented that security agents are not enough to douse the tension while the Ondo state government is advised to immediately declared a curfew in the town and find a lasting solution to incessant and senseless conflict in the town.

The cause of the crisis was unknown as at the time of filing this report.

The state government had recently set up a panel to look into communal and religious issues causing unrest in the town, but the committee is yet to submit its report.

One of the monarchs in the community was recently accused of breaching the earlier agreement by singlehandedly appointing an acting chief Iman for the central mosque.

The monarch has however cancelled the appointment following state government warning that the appointment should be reversed.

A curfew imposed on the community was recently lifted by the state government following return of peace after an earlier crisis.