The traditional ruler of Akinale of Owu Kingdom in Egbaland, Oba Femi Ogunleye has raised alarm over alleged influx of suspected herdsmen in his community located in Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Penpushing reports that, the monarch in a proactive measure had written to the Commissioner of Police over the shocking development, in view of the ongoing crisis arising from alleged kidnapping, maiming and killings of innocent indigenes of Ibarapa in Oyo State, a neighbouring of Ogun State.
The royal father while calling for police protection in his community and environs narrated his experience on sighting the strange faces in his domain on Sunday, January 17, 2021, hence, need for him to speak out before it get out of hands
‘I make haste to report some security challenges that made themselves bare in our locality Sunday 17, January, 2021. As I drove out my palace Sunday for a scheduled meeting with BalogunOwu, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. I noticed a crowd of about 50 scuffled persons armed with clubs and accompanied by wild looking dogs’
Penpushing further reports that, the monarch said he had to make a quick turn around and returned to the spot, directly opposite his community exit and stopped to interview the crowd, noting that before he got to the scene, the situation was becoming charge as some residents of the community denied them access to the community.
‘My public relations experience and spoken Hausa language prowess disarmed the already agitated crowd and they listen to me. Having identified some of them as indigenes of Kano, I told them my sojourn in Kano as a newspaper reporter and later asked them whether a group of itinerant wanderers like them can move from anywhere and enter Kano interior like they had done, without challenge’, Ogunleye wrote in the letter
The journalist turned traditional ruler said the wanderers replied negatively and he also asked them whether coming to enter forests in a locale in which they are not domicile without the concurrent knowledge of the owners of the forest couldn’t have been misunderstood as security breach
‘They acknowledged their misjudgment and apologized. I did not doubt their sincerity as itinerant hunting gamers, but the prevalent situation where criminals in the cloak of herdsmen hanging around our forest to kidnap, harass and rape our women, are enough to justify our apprehension and call for intervention of the state security apparatus’ he emphasized
Penpushing also reports that, the royal father stated that, just as he was addressing the community and drawing a counter-module for this trend, the community vigilante sent in a ‘save our soul’ message from a farm within his domain, that a group of herdsmen with several heads of cattle were sighted, fully resident in someone else’s farm with the cattle harvesting other peoples sweat.
‘It is sad and wicked. Every effort made by the farmers to drive the Fulanis away was rebuffed with threats of death. This report to the CP is aimed at seeking your urgent attention to help to dislodge these strange elements from our domain and evolve a check and balance strategy to prevent crime emanating from the two scenarios reported in this letter. I thank you for your understanding and action’, Ogunleye told the police boss
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