BEVERLY HILLS, March 22, (THEWILL) – Youth from Ibarapaland on Monday stormed Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, to stage a huge protest against the incessant killings by criminal herdsmen in Ibarapaland, Oke-Ogun and other parts of the state.
The youths are also protesting the arrest and subsequent detention of three members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) in prison on the order of the court.
The three detained OPC members were part of the vigilante groups that captured alleged Fulani kidnap kingpin, Iskilu Wakili, in Ibarapaland.
They were later charged with murder and arson and were remanded in prison.
The protesters, who stormed the Governor’s Office on Monday morning, to register their displeasure about security issues in the area, displayed placards with various inscriptions denouncing killings, kidnapping, rape and massive destruction of farms and other atrocities.
One of the organisers of the protest, Oladiran Oladokun, who is also the Converner of the Igangan Development Advocates, said the arraignment and detention of the three OPC members was a signal to many Nigerians that security agents should be left alone to mess up their job.
He said Wakili terrorised the people for so long and despite the security agencies’ inabilityl to arrest him, the OPC members and others risked their lives to apprehend the septuagenarian herder but were detained by the police on the same day.
Oladokun said, “We are here to protest the arrest and remand of the three OPC members in prison. These men are heroes, they risked their lives to arrest Wakili who has terrorised the people of Kajola, Ayete and other villages.
“They went to Wakili’s place and arrested him but the police turned against them and detained them. This is a bad signal to Nigerians on security issues.”
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