A State Under Siege

By Fola Adekeye
Monday, November 29, 2004

Bukola Saraki, Kwara State governor acts tough to stop the recent wave of robbery and murder in the state

Bukola Saraki, Kwara State governor, adopted a new strategy to combat crimes last week. The new strategy challenged to royal fathers, council chairmen, religious leaders and community in each local government area of the state to fish out criminals in their midst. The royal fathers being the custodians of tradition and the council chairmen as the chief security officers of their respective areas, now have more responsibility to rid their areas of criminals.

Last week, the governor met with Mohammed Abubakar, the state police commissioner; director, State Security Service, SSS; royal fathers and council chairmen from Kwara South senatorial district and charged them to support government efforts on security. In attendance were, Abdul Ganiyu Ibrahim, the traditional ruler of Erin-Ile; Olomu of Omu-Aran, Elese of Igbaja, Olosi of Osi, Alofa of Ilofa as well as chairmen of Irepodun, Isin, Oyun, Offa, Ekiti, Oke-Ero and Ifelodun council areas.

Nimota Ibrahim, commissioner for local and chieftaincy affairs said Saraki would deploy all resources to protect lives and properties. Ibrahim said the government was highly disturbed by the incessant cases of armed robbery on the Ilorin-Omu-Aran highway and was determined to find a lasting solution to the problem.

Armed robbers killed Fatai Yusuf along Ilorin-Omu-Aran road while driving his boss back to Ilorin after an official assignment in Abuja, November 9. He got wind of the robbery operation ahead of them late. Unfortunately, the robbers were at the very spot he stopped to make a detour and avoid them. He was shot dead while negotiating the u-turn. "In the process, the bullet hit the driver on the head, forcing the vehicle to a halt while the robbers had a field day, dispossessing the occupants of their valuable items," an eye-witness said. Yusuf was a driver with the Kwara State Ministry of Education.

On the same day, armed bandits struck again on Ilorin-Omu-Aran road. This time, victims were a young couple. The couples reportedly angered the robbers when the husband attempted to speed off and avoid the robbers. As such, the husband was beaten into a state of coma after which his wife was raped. The couple lost their car and other valuables to the robbers. A good Samaritan, who later found them by the roadside, conveyed them to the intensive care unit of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital where they received medical attention.

Last month, some dare-devil bandits attacked a bullion van belonging to a first generation bank on Ilorin-Omu-Aran road and carted away money put at N70 million. They killed two policemen and injured two bank officials accompanying the bullion van. Several robbery cases have occurred on the Ilorin-Omu-Aran road in the last five months.

Suleiman Adamu, acting spokesman for the Kwara State Police Command confirmed some of these gory incidents and promised that security operatives would leave no stone unturned to bring the criminals to justice.

More worrisome to Bukola Saraki, Kwara State governor, about the crime situation in the Kwara state was the brutal murder of Michael Agboola, former state primary education board accountant. A seven-man gang, three of whom reportedly wore masks, had strangulated him around 7.30 pm at his residence located at Ibedo close, off Joseph Bamigbola Street, Ilorin and made away with his laptop and the sum of N80, 000. Agboola was killed in the very presence of his wife, children and aged mother after declaring that "we are here to kill you."

Narrating her ordeal to sympathisers including newsmen, Agboola's wife said the assassins demanded for N150, 000.00 that her husband withdrew from the bank earlier in the day. "I quickly gave them the sum of N80, 000.00, being the proceed from my trade which I was still having in my possession. They rejected the money and maintained that they were not interested in the money but in taking the life of my husband. They said they were instructed to kill him. And Agboola was killed.

Before his death, Agboola was a star witness in the judicial commission of inquiry headed by Justice Oluwayemisi Ajayi, which investigated the activities of SPEB and the 16 local governments in the last administration.

Emmanuel Ayeoribe, Kwara State chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC who led a delegation of workers in the state to Agboola's residence called on Governor Saraki to fish out his killers. "We call on Governor Bukola Saraki to ensure that this murder is not ignored. He should set up a high powered panel to probe the killing". He also charged the state police command and the state security services to work together and ensure that the assassins were promptly arrested and brought to book. Ayeoribe described the deceased as a dedicated, responsible, and hard-working civil servant whose death must be immortalised. He said it was imperative that the state government probed the killing, saying that if the accountant of SPEB could be murdered it meant that nobody in the state was safe. Saraki promised to ensure that his killers did not escape justice.

A statement by Tajudeen Kareem, the governor's chief press secretary, said a welfare package was being worked out for the family. He said the state government sympathised with the people of the area over the loss of their son, promising that the education of Agboola's children would not suffer.

Gideon Marcus, the state police public relations officer, promised that security men would unmask those behind the killing.