NEWS: Oro-Ago community urges police to investigate killing of kinsmen

People of Oro-Ago in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, under the aegis of Oro Ago Development Union (ODU), have called on the police  to investigate the alleged killing of members of the community by Fulani herdsmen.
This is just as the community accused the police high command of taking side with Fulani herdsmen as they unleashed terror on members of the community and destroyed their farmlands.
It will be recalled that a bloody clash  between some Fulani herdsmen and members of the community, about two months ago at the community’s market square, led to the death of two persons.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Sunday, members of ODU also protested the alleged killing of one woman and arrest of five members of the community on June 12.
The deceased whose name was given as Bolatito Balogun, was alleged to have been shot by the police while women in the community were protesting the arrest of their kinsmen.
The people, led by the President of ODU, Chief Richard Olusola said another woman, named Tope Ologemo, who was hit by police bullet, was recuperating in the hospital.
He added that six of the community members arrested and taken to Abuja in connection with the April 30 bloody fracas were still in police custody.
He urged the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase to fish out the policeman that pulled the trigger that killed  Mrs Balogun.
He said: “A more nauseating, provoking and pathetic incident occurred on Friday, June 12. Another set of fully armed police officers just like those who came in April from the IGP’s office, Abuja, stormed the community as early as 7 a.m. and started shooting indiscriminately and arrested our people.
“The action was contrary to what they told our monarch, Oba Johnson Dada, the previous day that they were in the community on a peace mission and to visit places where the incident occurred as well as the place where one Seriki Bamo, who was the complainant to the office of the IG on the first incident, was killed about a week ago.
“The indiscriminate shooting made our people to run helter-skelter, while scampering for safety. The police went away with, at least, five of our men. We say five through some people are still missing after the incident and their whereabouts still unknown. The names of the five we can identify are: Oladele Ponle, Asanlu Salawu, Karimu Aremu, Rasaki Illa and Tunde Abolaji.
“Unfolding developments show that the police are in cahoots with the Bororos. This is because on that Friday, two of our men were tied down on their farmlands by the Bororos and the Bororos told them that the police were coming from Abuja to arrest them and other members of the community and that they would be killed.
“Our monarch has written two separate letters to both the state Commissioner of Police and the Director, Department of State Service (DSS) for their intervention because we don’t want to take laws into our hands. But sadly, there has been no response from the duo.
“We, therefore, appeal to the IGP to order the immediate release of our men in police detention in Abuja because it is trite law for our people, acting on self-defence, to be caged while the Bororos who perpetrated the fracas are walking freely on the streets.”
When contacted, spokesperson of the state police command, Ajayi Okasanmi confirmed that the case was being investigated by the police headquarters in Abuja.
He said: “Some Fulanis and the natives had some scuffle that led to the death of some people of Oro-Ago.  But eventually, the force CID of the Nigeria Police Force requested that the matter be transferred to Abuja for further investigation and we did that. Since they have taken over the case from us, they have every authority to go anywhere in this country to get to the root of the entire matter.
“It was in furtherance of that matter that two or three of them came for further investigation which I may not be competent enough to talk about since the matter is no more with the  Kwara State command. But the fact remains that in the course of their investigation, there was an issue and a woman died and she was taken to a hospital. We have to get the autopsy report to know what led to the death.”