Alaafin To FG: End Kwara Killings

Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade I, the Alaafin of Oyo has called on the federal government to take urgent steps to end the killing in Kwara state by suspected Fulani herders.

The traditional ruler spoke amid the recent killing of a dozen of persons in Oke Ode, one of the suburbs in the state.

According to a statement signed by his media aide, Bode Durojaiye, the Oyo monarch said he has also reached out to the governor of the state,  AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq on the possible way to end the senseless killings by the marauders.

He commends security forces for the efforts to arrest the situation, saying all those involved should be brought to justice, to prevent others from committing same crime in the future.

Oba Owoade said,  “Government, political leaders and followers must have the courage and honesty to get to the root causes of our insecurity, now worsened by criminality, insurgency and terrorism by herdsmen,

“Security should not be taken for granted. Immediate and conscious efforts must be made to design and build a robust system capable of creating a stable and peaceful environment for national development.”

Amid the tension caused by the invasion of the state by suspected bandits, the state government said on Thursday that the kingpin of the gang violence and kidnapping in the state, and other neighbouring states, one Maiwada has been neutralised alongside some of his men by the Nigerian Airforce who bombed their hideouts.

Ibraheem Abdullateef, the Senior Special Assistant on Communication to the governor, disclosed to journalists  that security intelligence confirmed Maiwada’s death.

He said, “Communications intercepted from the marauding kidnappers revealed that a notorious kidnapper known as Maidawa and many of his foot soldiers have been eliminated in an encounter with joint security forces around Isanlu-Isin in Kwara State.

“Security forces, spurred by new calls of the state government for urgent interventions, have ratcheted up efforts to dislodge the kidnappers who often launch cowardly attacks on civilian populations and abduct people for ransom.”