Kwara youths protest vigilante leader’s murder, blame herders

Youths in Kajola village, Igbaja community, Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, have protested the murder of the local vigilante group’s commandant.

The commandant, Chief Lukman Balogun, who held the traditional title of Jagun of Elese Igbajaland, was killed on Monday evening.The youths, threatening unrest, accused Bororo cattle herders of the crime. Their outrage intensified when news broke of another kidnapping involving three people in the same area.

The Guardian learned that the deceased was part of a team tracking kidnappers who had earlier abducted three prominent residents. “It was on Ogele-Yaaru road that our Balogun was killed,” a source revealed.

The chairman of the state’s Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Comrade Afolabi Lukman, described the late security figure as a formidable opponent of criminals.

“He significantly assisted the police in curbing crime in Igbajaland,” Afolabi said. He urged the state government to bolster security, saying, “This is a major setback for the state’s security framework.”

Meanwhile, the monarch Oba Ahmed Awuni Babalola Arepo III appealed for calm, calling Jagun’s death a significant loss for Igbajaland. He assured the youths that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

The Chairman of Ifelodun Local Government Area, Alhaji Abdulrasheed Femi, led a delegation to the area and expressed condolences. He pledged that all efforts would be made to apprehend the killers.

The state police command’s spokesperson, DSP Toun Ejire-Adeyemi, had not yet commented on the incident at the time of reporting. Security personnel, including the Army, Department of State Services, and the police, have been deployed to the community.