IGANGAN BLEEDS PROFUSELY UNDER A BLOODY FULANI SIEGE

IGANGAN BLEEDS PROFUSELY UNDER A BLOODY FULANI SIEGE

Igangan, an agrarian community of hospitable peoplein Ibarapa North Local Government has been in the news for quite some time now as the hot spot of Fulani's bloody activities ranging from consistent carnage to kidnapping, banditry, raping and mindless killings in the most unimaginably gruessome manner. 

The last has not been heard of the tales of woes characterising this hitherto peaceful and serene ancient town of the Yoruba tribe of generally peace-loving and hospitable characters. Yesterday recorded another of such bloody reigns of Fulani terror albeit on a rather large scale and well-planned, sneeky but horrendously destructive siege that left many dead while several units of property were razed down by the rain of fire from these hordes of Fulani terrorists who besieged the small ancient town in the dead of the night on Saturday, June 5, 2021 to unleash the most gory and destructive terror on the unsuspecting community.

 

The carnage and arson were launched between 11:00pm and 3:00am. All attempts to reach the Police via the telephone proved abortive as all known Police lines dedicated to distressed calls were switched off. Similarly, the Amotekun lines too were unreachable as theirs too were switched off. 

Prior to this carnage, and precisely on April 14, 2021, an alarm from the intelligence report covertly gathered by the Igangan Development Advocates, was raised and channeled to the appropriate government quarters while it was also given a wide publicity on some media platforms that the Fulani as led by the son of Seriki Saliu, simply known as Ibrahim Saliu was coordinating a plan to besiege Igangan on a reprisal attack in reaction to the eviction of his father, Kadri Saliu who was evicted some time ago by Sunday Igboho. 

But it would seem that the State Government and its functionaries had thought it was just another social media hype not worthy of any form of attention as no step was taken by the State Government to act on the proposal to tighten the security around Igangan and Ibarapa lands. 

And so it was that throughout the period of the stormy and deadly attack unleashed on innocent and unsuspecting souls in Igangan, there was no iota of State intervention as the town groped in the heat of carnage for help with just a handful of poorly armed local hunters, some of whom also sacrificed their lives to save a few.

It was gathered that Ibrahim Saliu had even been so daring as to go on social media and some radio stations to issue several threats about how Igangan would be razed down to a heap of ashes soon!

It would seem that he made good his promise to have not only a pound of flesh from the fleshy haven of Igangan, but also razed some critical mass of the town down as the hordes of Fulani attackers set shops, parked cars, houses including the Oba’s palace, (the Asigangan of Igangan’s Palace) and many other valuables and property ablaze. 

Setting the Oba’s Palace ablaze is quite metaphorical as it implies setting the town’s headship and soul ablaze to capture the entire town. It is equally a taboo, a costly one at that, in Yoruba land! When situated against the background of the fact that proofs of sophisticated weaponry like AK47 being brought in via the porous land borders surrounding Igangan, Oke-ogun and Ogun State was widely publicized and consistent alarms were raised on the mass infiltration of Igangan and Ibarapa with armed Fulani terrorists, it leaves a permanently bitter taste in the mouth of any right thinking person that no proactive step was deemed fit by the State Government to forestall the then impending doom that became a reality today. 

The truth is that Igangan did all within her powers to see to her own security by herself as folks had been contributing resources and finance towards the administration of local hunters’ security architecture which held the fort during last night’s attack. But for these poorly armed local hunters, the story would have been different as the town could have been completely razed down in utter realization of Ibrahim Saliu’s continuous threats to do so. 

If Igangan is to survive this present siege that keeps laying waste her people and their means of livelihood. Then, it must be reiterated that for the fact that in the heat of the attack, the local hunters were the last man standing, let the State rise up to the proposal submitted to it by the Igangan Development Advocates (I.D.A.) and via the I.D.A., empower the local hunters whose list had been compiled, with the required logistics. The State should also see to: 

the immediate arrest and prosecution of Kadiri Saliu, the Seriki Fulani and all his sons and especially, Ibrahim Saliu who had been all over the media, both conventional and social to issue series of threats to raze down Igangan.

👉🏾 the relocation of Amotekun base to Igangan 

 👉🏾 the empowerment of Amotekun to carry pump actions for the defence of the people of Igangan, Ibarapa and the entire Oyo State. 

👉🏾 the conversion of Igangan Police outpost to a Police Headquarters. 

👉🏾the commencement, with immediate effect, of Radio and TV announcements on the implementation and enforcement of the ban on open grazing 

👉🏾the deployment of the joint Security Task force to comb all the nooks and crannies of Igangan town and Ibarapa. 

Today, Igangan is badly hit! Igangan licks her wounds as she suffers a heavy loss with many unnecessary casualties. Igangan bleeds profusely. Her sons and daughters heavily massacred in an open, unchallenged genocidal attack by the Fulani hegemony. When shall Igangan heal? When shall Ibarapa be safe? When shall these tales of woes end?