Ikoyi – Ile, headquarters of Oriire local government area of Oyo state, is safe though there is palpable fear in the community and surrounding areas.
Recall few days ago, two letters were found behind the house of a former councilor in Ikoyi, purportedly written by bandits, containing messages of threat that bandits would strike January 20 in the community. This coming after the brutal attack on a National Park Service office at Oloka, a nearby town, leading to the death of five park rangers attached to the Old Oyo National Park, sent fears down the spine of everyone.The dust of the attack was yet to settle when the threat against Ikoyi was issued.
The threat was not taken lightly even as the police authorities issued a release that the planned attack might be credible. And so security measures were activated to forestall any untoward happening. The Oyo state governor Engr Seyi Makinde also led some security service commanders and traditional rulers to Oloka last week to identify with them on the misfortune unleashed by the suspected bandits and to reassure them of government’s commitment to their security.
Fear rifled through Ikoyi over the purported letter. But security agents and local security groups like the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Vigilante, traditional hunters and so on were also mobilised to the area, which provided a heightened security net.
“There was fear in Ikoyi,” a resident who spoke on condition of anonymity told ogbomosoinsightonline.com. “Many fled to Ogbomoso. But there have been a spike in security surveillance in the environ. There is regular patrol by policemen and men of other security agencies. Also, we have local security groups on patrol even hunters from Igbeti and other communities especially Ogbomoso are here.”
Ogbomoso Insight saw an armoured vehicle mounted at the entrance of Ikoyi.“However, school children stayed away from schools yesterday,” a teacher in a secondary school in Ikoyi informed. “This was more pronounced in primary schools, parents did not allow their children and wards to go to school yesterday. A bit better in secondary schools but the situation is better today, Wednesday.”
Everything appears under control, it’s observed but may it not be like a Yoruba literature book once read in secondary schools (whose title l can’t remember now). Hardened thieves wrote a community they would strike and they eventually made real the threat but in the end the hunters overpowered them after series of suicidal encounters and brought them to their knees.
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