At least, one person has been killed and two others sustained various degrees of injuries in the clash between suspected Islamic extremists and traditionalists on Friday.
Our Correspondent gathered that, ‘dangerous looking men who are suspected to be Islamic fundamentalists, on Friday, stormed the house of a traditionalist, Waheed Ganiu, who is an ally of Olota of Ota, HRM Prof. Adeyemi Obalanlege, killing his son and injuring two other people who are residents of the area in what appeared to be a religious fight between the duo’.
In an interview with one of the residents of the area, who spoke with VOA News Correspondent under the condition of anonymity, she said that the extremists came in numbers, wielding various weapons and chanting some words in Arabic, an event that made some of the residents to seek cover while others attempted to wade in but unfortunately, met stiff resistance from the extremists.
“We were at home on Friday night around 11:45Pm when we started hearing some Arabic chants like a chorus and we rushed out to confirm the crux of the matter. We were surprised to see that some people whom we suspected to be Muslims and numbering about twenty or more, started approaching our vicinity with dangerous weapons and charms, an event that made all of the residents scampered for safety. They then marched to the house of Mr. Waheed, who was at home with his family. Myself and some other neighbors had to take to our heels when we found out that it was more than what we could curtail. It was later we discovered that Mr. Ganiu narrowly escaped while they killed his son and injured two other residents”.
When asked the possible cause of the break down of law and order, he said he was not really certain, but he heard that Mr. Ganiu had issues with the Islamic extremists and they decided to trace him to where he and his family lives to seek justice.
He however, called on the Nigerian Police Force and other law enforcement agencies to not relent until the perpetrators were brought to book as the incidence was one too many in Nigeria.
In an interview with the CDA Chairman of Irewole Progressive Estate in Ota, Mr. John Adesola, on the ensued mele, he affirmed the report, citing lacuna in our security architecture as major reason for the breakdown of law and order which resulted into loss of innocent lives and properties as a result of religious clash.
“When I got wind of the invasion of the Islamic extremists in our area in the wee hours of Friday, I quickly placed a call to the Onipanu Division of Nigerian Police Force and they promised to swing into action immediately. It took them almost an hour before they could mobilize their men to the scene of the event after major damage had been done. If the Policemen had arrived within minutes that a call was placed to them, the incidence would have been averted. We appeal to all law enforcement agencies to not relent until the perpetrators are brought to book”.
A family source, Ramota Ganiu, who spoke with VOA News Correspondent over the incidence, allayed fear that her cousin’s life as well as that of her family’s were no longer safe in that the extremists who killed Mr. Ganiu’s 9-year old som had vowed not to rest until they get at her brother.
On what may be the possible cause of the assassination attempt on Mr. Ganiu, she said that the extremists had been attacking her family since 1999. She recounted an incidence where Mr. Ganiu’s late father’s house was raided by these fundamentalists almost two decades ago and they have consistently been threatening her family since then.
She buttressed that sometimes in August, 2023, Islamic fundamentalists in company of few men of the Nigerian Police Force, stormed the venue of the annual Isese festival in Ilorin in an attempt to seize Mr. Ganiu and other Traditionalists in the venue, but say for luck which ran on Mr. Ganiu by escaping to Ota, he would have been murdered in cold blood, while urging law enforcement agencies to up their game.
VOA News report that religious extremism as well as other insurgencies have become the order of the day in Nigeria as efforts to curb these excesses by the Nigerian Police Force have not yielded any result in the last decade.
