• Gov. Abiodun, experts, residents seek help of security operatives • Call for increased policing
By Olakunle Olafioye
Ogun State is currently under siege. Indeed, kidnappers, land grabbers, cultists and ritual killers have continued to give residents of the Gateway State sleepless nights as they ride roughshod over the state.
Only a fortnight ago, a former Provost of Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta, Dr Ayodele Ajayi Adetayo, was kidnapped alongside his wife. Their abductors later released his wife and other captives, but held on to former provost.
The abduction, which reportedly took place at Ikija Village on Olodo axis of the Abeokuta-Ibadan Expressway in Odeda Local Government Area of the state, according to the residents of the community, was just one of the series of abductions that had taken place in the area in the last few weeks.
Earlier in the month of July, residents said that it took the bravery and the spirited efforts of local hunters and security operatives to secure the freedom of seven members of a branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, at Omun Pepe Village in the state.
Reports said that the abductors had invaded the church during a vigil and attacked the congregation before whisking away seven worshippers while a pastor identified as Pastor Kayode Oluwakemi, reportedly lost his life to the incident.
Local hunters from the village and other neighbouring villages later secured the release of the captives after engaging in prolonged gun duel with the kidnappers.
Related to this is the surge in the menace of land grabbing, a development that continues to threaten the harmony and peace of residents of several communities in the state.
In June, two lives were reportedly lost and 13 villages sacked as land grabbers invaded communities in Obafemi-Owode and Sagamu local government areas of the state.
A plumber simply identified as Femi and another victim, whose identity could not be ascertained reportedly lost their lives when the marauding land grabbers invaded Orile Eegun Kara Nla in Mowe area of Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State. The hoodlums who were armed with dangerous weapons, including guns, it was gathered, had invaded the village on the guise of enforcing a court order and forced residents to vacate their houses.
Sunday Sun gathered that the two-day exercise later turned bloody on the second day as the suspected criminals unleashed terror on the residents and labourers working in some buildings in the community leading to the death of the victims.
At Shimawa Village in Sagamu Local Government Area, no fewer than residents of 13 villages were sacked and rendered homeless as land grabbers took over their villages.
In a protest, which ensued later after the invasion, a community leader, Tiamiyu Fasasi, listed the affected villages to include Igbo Iwaju, Ososa, Oke Ate, Ayetoro, Okerala , Ajebo, Kaniyi, Ewu Ijebu, Mamugba, Ewu Oje, Ewu Lisa, Ewulosi and Otasanya.
The community leader who led members of the affected communities during the protest called on the state government and security agencies in the state to come to their rescue.
“We are appealing to the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, Kabiyesi of Shimawa and the police to help us get rid of these land grabbers. They don’t have land here,” he said.
Besides the menace of land grabbers, Ogun State is also battling against ritual and cult related crimes.
In recent weeks, the state has recorded high profile ritual related killings, including the heart-wrenching revelation of a self-acclaimed herbalist, who was identified by a suspected ritual killer as the buyer and receiver of the body parts of one of the victims, one Oyindamola Adeyemi.
Worried by the spate of kidnappings, ritual and cult-related killings, members of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights and Grassroots Development, last year protested against rising ritual killings, kidnapping, cultism, drug abuse and other insecurity challenges in Ogun State.
Led by its convener, Comrade Yinka Folarin, members of the group demonstrated round Abeokuta metropolis, including the State House of Assembly before heading for the governor’s office.
The convener of the protest expressed dismay at the rising cases of kidnapping, ritual killings, drug abuse, cultism, Internet fraud and other social vices, even in schools in the state, explaining that the visit was to engage necessary arms of the government and other stakeholders towards checkmating crime and criminality in the state.
But more than a year after the protest, the state is yet to overcome these challenges as residents continue to lament their fate in the hands of criminal elements who are holding the state on the jugular.
Security experts blamed the rise in criminal activities in the Gateway State on a number of reasons.
A security expert, Femi Odeyemi, opined that the rise in kidnapping in the state has direct correlation with the heat and pressure which governments and security outfits in the neighbouring states are mounting on kidnappers in their respective states.
“When criminals are being given hot chase at a particular location, it is natural that they look for a new base for their operations. Ondo and Oyo, as well as Lagos states are becoming too hot for these criminals so they are looking for a relatively comfortable operational base to carry out their heartless activities.
“What the state government and the security agencies in the state need to do is to up their game by giving these criminals suffocating and hot chase from the state,” he suggested.
In his own opinion, Fatiu Ajibola, another security expert, blamed the inability of the state government to rein in land grabbers terrorizing residents in the state to what he termed as complicity on the part of those who are supposed to complement the state government’s efforts in tackling land grabbing.
According to him, “land grabbers in Ogun State have perfected their game and this is putting unnecessary pressure on the government of the state. People are being forced to leave their houses in droves and other landed properties because those who are supposed to complement government’s efforts in fighting these criminals are now complicit. Land grabbers in Ogun State are becoming so adept in securing favourable, but questionable court judgments to dispossess the people of their property. The police are also on hand to lend helping hands to them. So, this explains why the government appears helpless in fighting land grabbing in the state.”
Only last week, Governor Abiodun came out to call for increased supports from security operatives in the state in ridding the state off criminal elements.
Speaking while receiving the Assistant Inspector General of Police, (AIG), Zone 2, Mr. Ali Mohammed during a courtesy visit at the Government Office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the governor sought the support of the AIG and lamented the menace of kidnapping, cultism and land grabbing, describing them as serious security challenges confronting the state.
He promised that the state would soon launch surveillance drones as a way of reducing the dark spots in the state.
“When we deplore these drones, particularly, along the known occurrences, it will allow men of the Command to respond to distress calls as soon as they identified where the crime has been committed.
“Also, I would like to plead with you for some of your men to assist us in this anti-cultism fight. We are prepared to provide them with the required logistics as the former CP will be overseeing the different units of Anti-cultism, kidnapping, and Quick Response Squad,” he said.
On land grabbing, the governor bemoaned the frustration in prosecuting arrested land grabbers, saying, “I want to solicit your support in ensuring that we break the back of this land grabbing. I understand that there are instances where land grabbers are arrested in Ogun State and they are brought to Zone 2 for questioning.
“I expect that they take them straight to the Commissioner of Police first and only if the CP in his wisdom believes that the case should be transferred to the AIG ,then it should be transferred to the AIG because what we found out in the past is that they do this to avoid being properly prosecuted.They believe they can come to Zone 2 and play some games. When they are left off the hook, they come back again to terrorise the people.”