Fresh herdsmen attack in Ogun: Two killed, schools, hospitals shut

Owode-Ketu and Ijoun communities in the Yewa North Council Area of Ogun State have been turned into a theatre of war following a violent gun attack by some suspected Fulani herdsmen, leaving at least two people dead.

The killer-herders launched the attacks on Thursday as the herdsmen went into the communities in a hail of gunshots, scaring residents.

According to reports, the residents who are mostly farmers were caught off-guard.

The residents gave the names of those shot dead as Isiaka Apesin and Oguntosin Adebayo, who were reportedly murdered while on their way to their farms by the herdsmen in the wee-hours of the day.

Some herders ambushed the farmers and after killing them, they ran into the bush, a report said.

The incident which had sent shock waves to the communities — Eggua, Igan-Alade, Igbogila Owode-Ketu and Ijoun — forced schools and hospitals in the area to close down immediately.

“Health workers, staff, students as well as pupils of primary schools all scampered for safety following the attacks,” a worker told Persecondnews on telephone.

Confirming the incident, the traditional Head of Owode-Ketu, Sanya Fabuyi, a Christian cleric, said the herdsmen came in their hundreds armed with sophisticated weapons.

“They started shooting indiscriminately causing panic in the area.”

In his own account, a youth leader in the area, Sina Olaleye, said the herdsmen, who allegedly fortified themselves with bulletproof vests, had gone back into the forest.

Meanwhile, Gov. Dapo Abiodun has sent a “strong warning” to the criminals, who unleashed violence in Owode-Ketu, Eggua, Igan-Alade and Igbogila areas of the state.

Vowing that his administration would leave no stone unturned in curtailing the activities of brigands in the state, Abiodun said: “Ogun cannot be defined by crimes and criminalities. Ogun does not have any haven – safe or unsafe – for killers, bandits, insurgents or cultists.

“We shall spare no action, including ruthless ones, to bring peace, public order into every hamlet, town and city in the Gateway State.”

Abiodun had said in a statement by his media aide, Kunle Shomorin, and obtained by Persecondnews.

It is recalled that Ogun Goverment had disowned self-styled Yoruba freedom fighter and “warlord”, Sunday Igboho, who after chasing out the killer-herders from Oyo State, stormed Ogun on a similar rescue mission.

But Ogun through the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Waheed Odusile, said the state did not require Igboho’s help.