IYC absolves Ijaw from violence

The new Ogun State Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr. Ahmed Illiyasu, has declared total war against militants and other criminal activities in the state, assuring the people of safety.

Illiyasu, who spoke during the handing-over ceremony by the immediate past CP in the state, AIG Abdulmajid Ali, held at the Officers’ Mess, Abeokuta, disclosed that the Command had already made tactical and covert deployment of policemen to the affected areas to flush out the militants.

While the new CP assured the people of his commitment to reducing criminal activities in the state, Ali thanked the people of the state and the media for their support, urging the people to replicate same to his successor.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who hosted the new CP and the AIG in his Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta office, declared that the state would not be a fertile ground for hoodlums and criminal-minded elements.

He said: “The peaceful atmosphere prevailing in the state won’t be surrendered to hoodlums and criminal-minded elements who are now disturbing our people located at the riverine areas.

“I want to say that Ogun State is still and would remain a no-comfort zone for criminals. We won’t accept what some people are doing in the riverine areas presently.”

The governor praised the AIG for ensuring that the state remains peaceful and saluted Alli’s professionalism and competence.

Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide has absolved the Ijaw ethnic nationality from the violence and killings in Lagos and Ogun communities, declaring that the Ijaw are not the only people involved in criminalities and militant activities.

President of the IYC, Udengs Eradiri, who spoke in Yenagoa yesterday during a media briefing, said it was becoming worrisome and an attempt by some individuals to continue to link the Ijaw ethnic nationality to any criminality. He said there were other ethnic nationalities in the rank and file of the Niger Delta Avengers and the Arepo militants in Lagos and Ogun states.

Eradiri, who stated this in Yenagoa during a media briefing yesterday, said it was wrong for people to link the criminal activities in Lagos and Ogun states to the Ijaw, adding that those involved are criminals and should be treated as such by security agencies.

According to him: “There is an economic crime going on along pipelines criss-crossing this country. There are Yoruba people there, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani, Ijaw and other ethnic nationalities involved in the crime going on in Arepo. Nigerians should stop ascribing it to Ijaw people. Nigerians should stop ascribing anything that happens in the Niger Delta to Ijaw people.”