SAVE OUR SOULS!!! Ilesa Residents Cry For Help Over Incessant Cult Clash

 

• Say Violence Paralysing Commercial Activities
• Only Community Effort, Persuation Can Restore Peace, Sanity – Agbekoya
• We May Opt For Traditional Means For Lasting Solution – Ex-Ijesa Youth President

Ismaeel Uthman

THERE is palpable fear among residents of Ilesa, Osun State, as a result of unabated cult clashes that have resulted to the killing of no fewer than 10 persons between June and second week of September, 2023. 

Cultists who are majorly members of Eiye and Afe confraternities have been terrorising Ilesa and some other parts of Ijesaland for over a year, killing and injuring innocent people in the process. 

No fewer than four people have been killed between Sunday and Wednesday in Ilesa in a renewed attack between members of the two cult groups. 

Two suspected members of Afe confraternity known as Machine and Skay were shot dead in front of a beer parlour on Sunday around Imo.

It was gathered that the two were found dead after an exchange of gunshots at the Imo area of the town.

In what seems to be reprisal attack, two suspected members of Eiye confraternity were also killed around Sabo area, along Ilesa/Akure express road.

The victims identified as 28-year-old Lekan and Sunday (25) were waylaid by their assailants who asked them to alight from their vehicle. 

Immediately they left the vehicle, the suspected cultists shot them on the head, said an eye witness.

OSUN DEFENDER gathered that the incessant cult clash has been crippling commercial activities in the city, as shop owners and other traders, including commercial motorcyclists rush home when it is 6pm to avoid being caught in crossfire.

“We need to close our shops and go home when it is 6pm because we don’t know when these people (cultists) will start their war; and this is affecting our business”, said Mrs. Bukola Afolabi, a resident of Imo, Ilesa.

Stakeholders in the city have continued to express their worries over the incessant violent attacks of the cultists, describing it as a menace that needs to be addressed holistically. 

The stakeholders noted that the violent activities of the cultists are gradually paralyzing the economy of the town, stating that traders and businessmen and women were no longer at peace.

A frozen food seller at Irojo, Mrs Temitope Ogunleye, said she has been planning to relocate to other area in Ilesa as a result of the constant violent attacks in the area which has been affecting her sales.

In an interview with OSUN DEFENDER on Wednesday, Ogunleye, said: I cannot continue to trade here; it is not safe for me and customers are no longer coming to this area to buy something again. 

“Go to Irojo, Imo, Bolorunduro and even roundabout at 6:30pm, you will be surprised that the place would have been disserted. People are living in fear; they don’t know when these cultists will strike again, so we rush home before it dusks.”

Reacting to the cult activities, the National Admin Coordinator of Agbekoya, Dr Samson Alo, stated that the development may cripple the economy of Ilesa, saying people were already discouraged to visit the town for business purpose.

He said: “Commercial activities are being paralysed; peole who have their private vehicles and businesses are not at peace. 

“Traders can no longer display the goods they are selling. The people who have business to do in Ilesa are even afraid of coming down. I have people that ought to come and see me in Ilesa; but they have told me they would not come because of the situation on ground. 

“Cult clashes have become a major threat to Ijesaland, lives and economy of the people. Most of the people cannot parade their businesses and trades at the time they want again. It is a threat to our economy, the aged, the children, businessmen and women and all residents of Ilesa in general.”

On what to be done to arrest the situation, Alo said: “Everybody has an assignment to do when it comes to security matter. All these cultists come from a certain home; they have parents, siblings and relatives. The police have done what they could; because most of the attacks are unplanned. And the feasibility these cultists do is more than what the police can do. And the stakeholders cannot also do the kind of feasibility these cultists are doing.

“If really we want to curb the situation, we need to start from the home of individual cult member. My suggestion is that if we identify a cultist, we should contact the family of such person to speak with their child. 

“We need community effort to bring back peace and sanity in Ijesaland because these people sleep in one house, they are members of a community, they eat and dine with some people. They come out from a home to launch attack on their victims and thereby shattering the peace of the town. I think we need to persuade their families to caution them. 

“The police have done their part; they have been speaking with local security agents on how to curb the situation, but the primary issue is to address it from the home of this individuals who are terrorising us. If we know their homes; family, the police, traditional rulers can summon these individuals and family to a roundtable and have them sign a treat or agreement. And if there is any threat from their end after the agreement, the family should also be held responsible. Let us use the people around these individuals to appease to them.

“Let me state again that the police are doing their beat; they will patrol from morning till night but they don’t know all the houses these people are living in. But the people know; they also know their movement. People in the community know who belong to certain group. So, let use the people to get to these individuals; that is when we can have peace. 

“If we continue to look up to the police without making community effort; we are not ready to address the situation.”

 The immediate past President of Ijesa Youth Forum, Mr Sunday Owoborode, mulled the idea of addressing the cultists activities with traditional means, saying stakeholders needed to arrest the situation before it drives away development in Ijesaland. 

Owoborode hinted that some of the assailants do come from outside Ilesa to perpetrate the crime and flee through the Ife-Ibadan expressway. 

He accused politicians of complicity in the killings in Ilesa, saying they are the ones that armed the cultists for election purposes and failed to retrieve the arms from them. 

Owoborode lamented that the violent attacks have crippled commercial activities in Ilesa, calling for holistic and drastic steps to curb the situation. 

He said: “The fact is that businesses around the evening time are not going again. Before 7pm, you will see people closing shops and going home. It is killing our economy gradually. 

“I know from my findings that some of these guys terrorising us are those armed by politicians during the elections, they gave them some weapons and they could not recover it. Those guys are making use of those weapons for all the killings.

“It was equally discovered that even if the police arrest any of them, within 30 minutes, they would be released on the order of top officers.

“The stakeholders, including the chiefs and community leaders have not been able to rest. It has been from one meeting to the other. As the chiefs are having their own, the traditional rulers too are having theirs, including the prominent indigenes of Ilesa. 

“I think we need to go to the traditional aspect of finding solution to the matter. I believe when we toe that path, we can experience the peace that we deserved. 

“Why is it that we are experiencing this violence when we are having development projects going on in Ilesa? We are now having very rapid development in the recent time and these violent activities of cultists is a threat to this development.

“As a matter of fact, the University of Ilesa is receiving attention. Now, students will want to apply for admission, with this recent violence, won’t parents be afraid of sending their children to our institution? 

“To me, it is a major issue and I feel so bad about the recent incidents. It is very alarming. When developmental projects are occurring in a community like this, the insecurity aspects of it has to be reducing because it gives avenue for employments. 

“It is a bigger threat to our safety, economy and development generally.

“Something of this happened in Ondo town sometimes ago and the monarch came out and did some traditional things. They performed their ritual rites and peace was restored. 

“We should also consider this option; we should also go for ritual rites and curse whoever is disturbing our peace.

“My prayer is that God should speak through our leaders and teach them the right path to follow. When we invoke a particular spirit and there are consequences, these guys will keep calm.”

Adeleke Directs Special Operations

Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun state has directed security agencies to launch special operations to arrest and prosecute cultists engaging in rivalry war across Ijesaland.

Adeleke, in a statement signed by his Spokesperson, Mallam Rasheed Olawale, described the killings in Ilesa as shocking and reprehensible, calling on the police and other security agencies to act decisively to stop the cult clashes.

The Governor who lamented the loss of lives of innocent residents, said the special operations should include intelligence gathering to arrest masterminds of the attacks, warning that “all perpetrators will face harsh reality of the law.

He said: “I have been duly briefed on the developments in some parts of Ijesaland. We will no longer tolerate actions capable of disrupting the peaceful atmosphere in the state. We will not allow any group or individuals to use their internal wars to endanger public peace.

“This is a matter that threatens law and order. We must enforce the law and ensure peace without delay. This is one violence too many.

“I have directed the Commissioner of Police and other service chiefs to swing into action without delay. Violence and attacks must stop and perpetrators must be brought to book as urgently as possible”, the Governor instructed.

Stakeholders Move To End Cult Clashes

This is just as the Ijesa stakeholders have resovled to find lasting solutions to the violent trend in Ijesaland.

OSUN DEFENDER gathered that the stakeholders which include traditional rulers, community leaders and security agencies held an emergency security meeting on Wednesday at the Owa’s palace where they deliberated on what is to be done to restore peace to the land.  

The Elegboro of Ijebujesa, Oba Moses Oluwafemi Agunsoye, who attended the meeting, said: “We deliberated for over three hours on what we think will bring lasting solution to the killings and maiming in Ijesaland, and we believe God will make it a fruition. We want peace to reign in Ijesaland with immediate effect. We are calling on all the people that are involved to sheath their sword and stop all these killings.

“What we are seeing is beyond the police, we all need to cooperate to give them information. These people are just like hit and run, they will rush in to kill and rush back into the bush. Everybody within the system need to cooperate to assist the police.”

In his comment, the Ogboni of Ipole-ijesaland, Oba Oyebade Oyeleye, urged the government to find a way to mop up guns and other dangerous weapons in the hand of the cultists.

Oba Oyeleye said other traditional rulers and community leaders at the meeting pledged their support to the government to bring lasting solution to the menace and ensure that peace returns to the land.

He said “There is need to control guns in circulation. That’s the major weapon. What cutlasses contribute is very little compare to gun. So, we have to find a way on how to sit down with our legislators, probably introduce a bill. If we can control guns probably 50 per cent of the problem will solve.”