PDP accuses governor of insensitivity
No less than 200 bandits, at the weekend, invaded Babanla community in Ifelodun Local Council of Kwara State, killing a police officer and four others in the process.
The Guardian reliably learnt that the assailants rode on motorcycles into the peaceful community, and headed to the Divisional Police Headquarters amid sporadic shootings.
According to the investigation, it was at the Divisional Police Headquarters that they killed the policeman identified as Adejumo Wasiu.After the successful invasion of the police facility, the outlaws then headed to the market, where they raided traders.
A statement by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, yesterday confirmed “the assailants fired sporadically, killing five people, including a police officer, Adejumo Wasiu.”
She added: “A swift and coordinated response by police operatives, Nigeria Army personnel, vigilantes, and local hunters repelled the attack, restored order, and initiated a full-scale manhunt for the perpetrators.”
The Commissioner of Police (CP) Adekimi Ojo, accompanied by the Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) in the state, yesterday, paid an on-the-spot assessment visit to evaluate the security situation.
The spokesperson said the delegation visited the traditional ruler of Babanla, Oba Yusuf Aliyu Alabi, with whom “they held discussions aimed at consolidating peace and strengthening inter-agency and community-security collaboration.”
The CP, thereafter, ordered sustained armed patrols, continuous intelligence gathering, and deployment of specialised tracking teams, while the DSS also pledged continuous intelligence support to apprehend the masterminds.
BUT the Kwara Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Kwara State, has condemned the recent “strategic security meeting” Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq held with some security personnel and aides at Omu-Aran.
It described the meeting as “an insult to victims of insecurity in Babanla in Ifelodun as well as others in Edu, Patigi and other security-threatened parts of the state.
A statement by its State Publicity Secretary, Olusegun Olusola Adewara, yesterday, the PDP alleged that the meeting, was a “stage-managed photo session” rather than a serious effort to tackle the state’s security situation.
It said the governor’s action mocked the residents of Babanla, Gaa Ahileri, and other communities in the local government, who were recently attacked by armed bandits.
“Instead of visiting the Babanla community, the scene of the merciless attack, the governor chose to attend a symbolic gathering in Omu-Aran in another local government area, which his aides called a Strategic Kwara South Security Meeting,” the opposition party stated.
