Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Monday, visited the families of some of the victims of herdsmen brutality in the Ibarapa North-West Local Council Development Area of the state.
The governor visited Mrs Idowu Babarinde whose son was shot by herdsmen. He also visited the family of Dr Fatai Aborode, a prominent farmer who was allegedly killed by Fulani herders for protesting that the herdsmen used their cattle to destroy his farm.
Makinde, who arrived in the area on Sunday evening, held meetings with stakeholders in a bid to find lasting solution to the herdsmen crisis rocking the area.
“We used the opportunity of our visit to the Ibarapa zone to pay condolence visits to the families of victims of criminal activities. In Idere, we visited Mrs. Idowu Babarinde whose son was fatally shot by herdsmen.
“In Igangan, we visited Alhaji Azeez Aborode, father of the slain philanthropist, Dr Fatai Aborode. May their souls rest in peace,” he tweeted after the meetings.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that stern-looking youths in Igangan, Ibarapaland greeted the governor with several placards on Monday.
Some of the inscriptions on the placards read: ‘End Farmers Bloodshed in Igangan’, ‘Fulani Must Stop Raping Our Women’, ‘Ibarapaland Not Fulani RUGA’, ‘No More Seriki, No More Carnage’, ‘Stop Fulani Massacre Of Ibarapa People’.
The Convener, Igangan Development Advocates, Oladiran Oladokun, told The PUNCH that the inscriptions on placards were the specific demands of the people of Igangan and Ibarapaland.
A popular Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo, well known as Sunday Igboho, had asked herdsmen accused of perpetrating crimes ranging from kidnappings, killings, rape to invasion of farmlands with their cattle to leave Ibarapa within seven days.
At the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum, Igangan residents, emboldened by Igboho’s presence, had ejected the Seriki Fulani, Abdulkadri Saliu, and his herders out of the rustic town.
The residents of the town also vowed never to allow Saliu and his men return to the community. (Punchng)
