Ogijo militants’ attack: Death toll rises, residents flee homes •Militants are relocating to Ogun -CP

photo Credit: tribuneonlineng.com

Ogijo

ANOTHER three members of Imushin community in Ogijo, attacked by suspected militants last Friday, have been reported dead. The attack, which has sparked outrage, initially claimed 11 lives, with the new development bringing the number of victims to 14.

 It was learnt that Usman and Hassan, two Hausa men shot by the invaders and another unnamed woman, who were rushed to the hospital on Friday evening, died on Sunday morning. Their corpses had been reportedly taken away for burial.


Lagos Metro gathered that people had started fleeing their homes in the Ogun State borderline community to other safer communities. A source who spoke to Lagos Metro said Imushin community was no longer safe for habitation, a reason large number of residents and landlords fled their homes to places considered safer.

One of the residents, Abdulrazak, who spoke to Lagos Metro, said the government should see to the road which leads to Arepo from Itaoluwo Imushin because it is very bad and bushy, creating a hiding place for the militants. Meanwhile, pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has demanded security agencies to immediately arrest and bring to book, killers of 14 Yoruba people at Imushin.

The group made the call on Sunday, in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Yinka Odumakin, while warning hostile neighbours not to take Yoruba good nature for granted. “While we have never been known to be aggressors in the history of the country, we have never lacked the capacity to ward off aggressors,” he said. The Ogun State Commissioner, however, alerted that some people suspected to be militants from Niger Delta region are trying to find their way into the state.

He said the fight against these elements required a combined effort of the military, police and other security agencies. Ali, reacting to the invasion of Imushin, said the militants could no longer stand the pressure put on them by the military and were looking for a safe place to continue their illegal business of oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

The commissioner said the militants had found an abode in the riverine areas of the state, saying that these same militants had been terrorising residents of Arepo axis on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. “It’s not true that 15 people were killed there.

 The DPO Ogijo was on ground; he reported that only three people were killed and their bodies have been recovered from the scene. “The militants are finding it difficult in Niger Delta and Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

They are now moving to our side in Ogun. They are the ones involved in kidnapping and sorts of crime,” he said. Meanwhile, the state police command has vowed to bring to justice, people suspected to have carried out the attack. In a statement by the state police spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, made available to Lagos Metro, the state police command was collaborating with the Lagos command and other security agencies to arrest those behind the dastardly act.