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General News of Thursday, 14 January 2021

Source: punchng.com

Oyo farmers seek transparency, police probe 47 armed Fulani

File photo: Farmers File photo: Farmers

Some farmers in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State have called on the Nigeria Police Force to carry out a thorough investigation to reveal the real identities of the arrested 47 armed Fulani men in the state.

This was just as indication emerged on Wednesday that the Oyo State Police Command had begun an investigation into the case of the 47 armed Fulani men who were arrested in parts of Oke Ogun on Sunday by men of the Operation Burst outfit in the state.

The Fulani men were said to have been arrested hours after the Saturday raid on kidnappers’ hideouts by the men of the Oyo State Security Network Agency otherwise called Operation Amotekun along the Tapa/Igangan Road in the Ibarapa North Local Government Area.

The suspects had claimed that they were arrested with arms while trailing some kidnappers who were trying to collect ransom from relations of a kidnapped victim.

But speaking in an interview with our correspondent in Ibadan on Tuesday, the farmers’ union Secretary in Ibarapa, Mr Taiwo Adeagbo, said a leader of Fulani in the area suspected to be a criminal was also invited alongside the armed Fulani men.

He said, “They started robbery and kidnapping in Ibarapa here. I have reported him (the Fulani leader) to security agencies before and I am happy he was invited with those arrested and taken to Iyaganku on Monday.

“The police should investigate him very well and those arrested. He claimed that those arrested came to kill him but those ones are saying he was the one that invited them to come to the area.”

Similarly, the Yoruba Youth Socio-cultural Association Worldwide through its Deputy National President, Biodun Somoye said, “Amotekun security outfit was established through legislation while Oyo State Vigilante Group is a body known and supported by the state government. The police must ask who approved the establishment of the Fulani vigilante group in the state.”

Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command, Mr Olugbenga Fadeyi, who stated that investigation was still ongoing on the matter, did not disclose whether the men were still in the State Criminal Investigation Department of the command or not.

The PPRO said, “Investigation is intensified and further development will unfold soonest, please.”