Governor Fayose vows to fish out killers of Fulani herdsman

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has charged the police and the Department of State Security (DSS) to fish out the killers of a herdsman, Mr. Ahmed Dele, in Omu Ekiti, vowing to bring the killers to justice.

Ahmed was allegedly killed by ritualists during a communal clash between Aiyede and Itaji communities in Oye Local Government Area of the state. According to a press statement in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Idowu Adelusi, “information gathered indicated that the herdsman, Mr Ahmed Dele, was killed by ritualists and not as a, result of conflict between cattle rearers and farmers.”

On the incessant communal clash between the Aiyede and Itaji communities over land dispute, Adelusi said the governor had set up a panel, headed by the Oluyin of Iyin Ekiti, Oba Ajakaiye, to look into the matter, stressing that government was prepared to implement the report of the panel. Adelusi said Fayose had charged the police and the DSS to fish out the killers and other criminals in the area and charge them to court immediately.

The governor vowed to deal decisively with the criminals and those harbouring them. Meanwhile, the monarch of one of the towns in the communal dispute, Attah of Aiyede, Oba Abdulmumini Orisagbemi, asked the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, to save him from death as some people were after his life.

He also asked traditional rulers of the warring communities to cooperate with security agents to fish out the killers. Orisagbemi, who decried the death of three persons in connection with the bloody land dispute, accused the indigenes of Itaji of instigating the police to carry out mass arrest of his subjects while also threatening to frame him up in the murders cases.

Addressing journalists in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, the monarch appealed to Fayose to constitute a commission of enquiry to ascertain the actual owner of the contentious land in Egan to avert further bloodshed. The monarch, who is the Chairman of the Traditional Council in Oye Local Government, appealed to the IG to direct his men to do their job professionally and stop taking sides in the matter.