’Yinka ADETUNJI
It has been reported that policemen including the Divisional Police Officer attached to Ajaawa Divisional Police headquarters, have fled the station, following the “assassination” of Araba Awo of Ajaawa, Chief Adeoye Ifaleye, who was attacked in his residence at about 1:30 early this morning. Two other people, Oyeniran a.k.a. Patanla and Dipo, a.k.a. Owo Adua, were taken away by the unknown gunmen.
This is just as the wife of the Ifa priest and two kids who accompanied him to the hospital for emergency treatment after the attack have not been seen since, “their whereabouts remain unknown,” a concerned resident revealed.
In addition, many residents are running away from the town as at the time of filing this report.
When ogbomosoinsightonline.com visited the town this afternoon, the whole station was shut and the place deserted even as the town was in pensive mood over the death of Chief Ifaleye, who was in his 50s, and popularly known as “Babanifa.”
The attack on Babanifa in the wee hours of today was said to have been carried out by fully armed men, who came in four vehicles.
He was repeatedly shot with the bullets however said to have failed to penetrate his body “and so the attackers resorted to use of daggers, machetes and other weapons they had in their possession. They came fully prepared for the mission,” ogbomosoinsightonline.com was told.
The assailants succeeded in inflicting him with fatal wounds, his entrails reportedly gushing out of his stomach.
The boom of gunshots woke the community and people rallied to repel the attackers but it was at this juncture that the DPO and some of his men appeared to claim that the “assailants” were policemen from Abuja, it was learnt.
“People had blocked the exit roads and spoiling to engage the gunmen but we were stopped by the DPO, who said the gunmen were from Abuja,” an eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity, added.
Babanifa, a native of Ife-Odan in Osun state, was speedily taken to a hospital in Ogbomoso but an unconfirmed report claimed that the assailants waylaid them snatching the man, his wife, two kids and the driver of the vehicle.
However, another report said the man gave up the ghost before reaching the hospital.
“Whatever, the man had been confirmed dead but the whereabouts of those with him are unknown,” another Ajaawa resident confirmed.
It is recalled that few weeks ago, the deceased came under similar attack but the attackers were repelled by youths in the community and even apprehended some of the attackers but they were rescued by the DPO and a contestant to the throne of Ajaawa, Prince Ade Master, who claimed the men were policemen from a special unit in Abuja and had come to effect the arrest of Babanifa.
The aftermath of that was the burning of the houses including a hotel of Prince Ade Master in Ajaawa by angry youths of the town, one young man having been killed during a riot allegedly by security guards at Prince Ade Master’s house though he claimed ignorance of this while speaking with ogbomosinsightonline.com
Thus the deceased (Babanifa), the traditional ruler of the town, Oba Adeyeye Oyetunji, who was installed less than a year ago, Prince Ade Master and some others were summoned to the Oyo state Police headquarters, Eleyele in Ibadan for mediation, as some claimed it was all fallout of chieftaincy tussle.
The DPO was subsequently posted out of the town and a new one brought in; a meeting was thereafter held between the police authorities and people of the town, in which the DPO assured that criminal activities would not be condoned just as the people pledged to continue to support the security agency.
“We all thought calmness had returned, so what happened today caught us unawares, it was unexpected,” a resident said.
Continuing, the angry resident submitted, “The police cannot claim innocence in the saga, the attackers came the first time, the police said they were their colleagues from Abuja; the second time, you said the same thing, allowing the attackers to escape on the two occasions.
“This is not the style of the police we are accustomed to, police don’t use knives of cutlasses, police don’t shoot suspects, especially when suspects don’t resist arrest. But these policemen came and started shooting at the man and when that did not work they started stabbing him, clubbing him to death, forcing out his intestines during the savage attack.
“That is not the style of the police we are used to, it is pure assassination with the connivance of the police we believe. If they are not guilty why have they run away from the station? The guilty run when no one pursues him. The matter must be unraveled.”
