Police Arrest 4 OPC Members For Arresting Wakili
.Group Urges Police To Handle Wakili Conscientiously
The police have reportedly arrested four members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) for arresting the notorious Fulani herdsman, Iskilu Wakili, who has been terrorising the people of Ayete and its environs in Ibarapa area of Oyo State.
A top security source in the state, who pleaded anonymity made the disclosure, saying the law enforcement agency questioned the right and propriety of the OPC members to have arrested Wakili.
A close aide of the Aare Ona Kakanfo, Gani Adams, also confirmed the arrest of the four OPC members, saying the group is watching the unfolding development with keen interest.
However, when contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Olugbenga Fadeyi, could not confirmed the arrest as he said he was not aware of the development.
He said: “I don’t have any detail about such arrest. But the OPC are not the police. How can they arrest another person? I will find out to know what happen and where they have taken Wakili to.”
Iskilu Wakili, who has been terrorising farm owners in Ibarapa communities in Oyo State, was reportedly arrested in the early hours of today.
He has been linked with several nefarious activities, including seizure of hectares of farmland, rape and kidnapping rich indigenes in the area for ransom, among many other despicable atrocities.
He became more popular following the recent eviction of the Seriki Fulani of Igangan, Abdulkadir Saliu, by Chief Sunday Adeyemo (aka Sunday Igboho) at the height of the agitations against the increasing activities of suspected killer Fulani herdsmen in Ibarapa area of the state.
Wakili reportedly mounted no-cross zone on farms, sending warnings to the indigenes of Ayete, even as often boasted that he cannot be evicted from the town.
Said to be speaking Yoruba Language fluently, he is the leader of the Fulani herdsmen in the Ayete area of Ibarapaland, with dozens of herders as his disciples.
Together with his battalion of herders, he displaced farmers and forcefully invaded their farms with cattle and also shot farmers who trespassed into the no- cross zone he created.
Due to his deadly attrocities, farmers could not harvest any crop as he and his Fulani team does all the harvests and while the farmers have nothing to show for their efforts, Wakili’s farm produces bountiful harvest and the local people buy his produce.
Confirming the arrest of Wakili, Kehinde Aderemi, Special Assistant on Media to Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, said: “Yes, he has been arrested by our team. You will get details later.”
Meanwhile, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, has commended OPC for the arrest of the notorious Fulani herdsman, Iskilu Wakili.
National Publicity Secretary of the group, Yinka Odumakin, in a statement on Sunday, said, “Afenifere gives tremendous commendation to OPC under Iba Gani Adams for the arrest of Iskilu Wakili, a Fulani bandit who has been spreading terror on our people in Ibarapa area and the Nigerian Police and other security agencies [are] unable to do anything about him.
“The early morning peaceful arrest confirms our position on how effective local initiative can do well in homeland security.
“We were not shocked that but for the intervention by the leadership in Oyo State, the police would have gone after the OPC boys, instead of taking the criminal from them and do the needful.
“Nigeria is going nowhere with a security network that shuns federalism. Well done, OPC.”
Also, the umbrella body of Yoruba groups and organisations, the Yorùbá Summit Group, confirmed the arrest of the notorious Fulani herdsman, Isikilu Wakili.
It said the arrest was an indication of the resolve of the people of the South-West to further secure their territories against external aggression.
The group, in a release by its Publicity Secretary, Mogaji Gboyega Adejumo, said it was reliably informed, via concrete evidence in audio and video formats, of the arrest of the notorious terrorist.
“The operation, as carried out by the members of the Oòduà Peoples Congress, is yet another indication of the resolve of the people of the southwest to rid their land of intruders, terrorists and criminals lurking in our forests.
“We commend in no uncertain terms, the Gallant efforts of our disciplined, committed and resourceful OPC operatives for this bloodless venture.
“We therefore call on the law enforcement agencies, to which both Wakili and the matter have been deposited into their care, to do their job, consciously and conscientiously!
“And yet [this is] another subtle reminder that if any such criminal should so decide to hide on our forests to perpetuate evil, our forests also are possessed of the bona fide, to swallow these criminals up.
“To that safely universal, international norm, we are so addressed and determined to process and then deliver,” Adejumo stated in the release.
