Bloody Land Dispute: Police Took Over Ekiti Towns

-Osinkolu regrets killing, sue for peace

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

As one man was on Tuesday killed over land dispute, police have taken over Ayede and Itaji Ekiti towns, the communities enmeshed in land dispute. The Commissioner of Police, Mr Wilson Inalegwu, who spoke through the Public Relations officer , Mr Alberto Adeyemi, said the command has drafted anti-riot policemen to all the sections of the towns to ward off reprisal attack.

Also, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress from Ayede Ekiti, Olusegun Osinkolu, has lamented the death of Seyi Oladipo in the communal clash between two neighbouring towns, calling on the security agencies to be alive to their responsibilities to prevent anarchy in the area.

Osinkolu declared that killing someone over issue that could be resolved amicably, urging residents of Ekiti to always dialogue over land dispute or toe judicial path , rather than taking up arms to cut the lives of innocent youths at their primes.

A 40-year old deceased , was shot dead on the land by a person suspected to be village head of Orisunmibare, the contentious portion of land located between the two towns.

During the bloody clash, which sparked up violent protest in Ayede Ekiti, the Onitaji of Itaji, Oba Adamo Babalola would have been attacked but for the t8mely intervention of security agencies. The CP said , though his men have been able to restore normalcy in the area, but assured that he would keep the troops on the ground until total peace returns to the beleaguered towns. “We had arrested two persons and those suspects will be arraigned in court soon. But let me tell you that our men are on ground to ward off any attack.

“We can’t fold our arms and allow people to take up arms against themselves, so we are taking every action we are supposed to take in this matter,” he said. Osinkolu, who condemned the land dispute said: “This killing is regrettable. The people of Ayede and Itaji are brothers. They have been co-existing for long and nothing had been allowed to separate them.

“I want our people to always toe the path of civility. In the modern world, dialogue and litigation are two instruments being used to settle any difference, which I believed could have been employed to settle this matter.