By Ayodele Oni
Fear and tension gripped residents of Ado Ekiti on Wednesday following social media reports that a truck loaded with armed Fulani youths arrived Shasha area.
The report had it that a woman that had gone to Shasha market in the State capital made distress calls to her husband to come and pick her up following the arrival of the truck fully loaded with armed Fulani youths.
Shasha market is located between Ado and Ikere Ekiti, very close to the offices of the Federal Roads Safety Commission, (FRSC) and the headquarters of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC).
Yoruba traders at the Hausa dominated market were reported to have hurriedly locked up their shops and headed for home, spreading the report of the alleged invasion of the state by armed fulanis.
Reacting to the report, the Ekiti state Police Command dismissed it as a rumour, and urged residents to go about their normal duties.
In a Statement, the command spokesman, Sunday Abutu said no armed Hausa/Fulani Invaded Shasha Market, Ado-Ekiti and that the cited truck was carrying dried fish, beans and onions.
The statement added reads: “The attention of the Ekiti State Police Command has been drawn to a falsely fabricated story trending on the social media that a truck loaded with Hausa/Fulani, all armed with AK-47 riffles and other weapons, entered Shasha Market, Ado-Ekiti today being 09/06/2024.
“The story is not just false, but a lie from the pit of hell, fabricated and spread by the enemies of the Society to cause unnecessary panic.
“The Command wishes to state explicitly that today being Wednesday, 9th June, 2021 at about 1700hrs, a truck loaded with bags of beans, dried fish, onions and other food items from Sokoto State heading to Akure, Ondo State, stopped-by at Shasha Market junction, Ado-Ekiti to offload five bags of fish.
“In the process, they were accosted by Amotekun personnel and interrogated but were later cleared to offload the bags of fish and proceed with their journey after confirming that nothing incriminating as alleged was found with them.
“More so, the said truck did not even enter Shasha Market but only stopped at the junction, and had earlier stopped by at Ifaki-Ekiti where some bags of beans were offloaded.
“The Command hereby implores members of the public especially the good people of Ekiti State to disregard the unfounded rumour as there is no iota of truth in it.
“The Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Tunde Mobayo, while pledging that the Command will continue to work with relevant bodies to ensure the safety of lives and properties of the good people of Ekiti State, urges everyone to be calm and avoid any form of apprehension, but be security conscious and ensure the timely report of any ugly incident or suspected person(s) found around their neighborhood to the relevant security Operatives.
“The Commissioner also warns against the formulation and spread of false alarms that are capable of causing apprehension in the Society as anyone found wanting will be made to face the wrath of the law.”
