No fewer than seven people have allegedly been killed in a fresh clash between officials of the Oyo State Security Network Agency also known as Operation Amotekun, and some herdsmen at Okebi village, Aiyete area in the Ibarapa North Local Government Area of the state.
Sources told PREMIUM TIMES that some Amotekun operatives in the early hours of Saturday visited Okebi village in search of suspected kidnappers in the axis.
A source in the community who pleaded anonymity because of fear of being attacked by Amotekun operatives said the killings has since put the community in disarray.
“Amotekun stormed the community today and they drove into villages in search of suspected herdsmen. The clash already caused the death of seven people,” the source said.
Another source told this newspaper that “it was a clash between Amotekun operatives and Fulani herdsmen that led to the deaths. Some people also sustained severe injuries”.
When contacted by PREMIUM TIMES, the Commandant of Amotekun in Oyo State, Olayinka Olayanju, did not respond to calls and text messages.
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Meanwhile, sources within Amotekun in the state confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that the incident truly occurred and efforts are in place by Amotekun commandant to hold a press conference on the said matter.
“The matter truly happened but we have not been authorised to speak with the press. You know that Amotekun has been in the news for negative things recently and we need to address this as soon as possible,” one of our sources among the Amotekun operatives said.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Olugbenga Fadeyi, did not respond to this newspaper calls and text messages as of the time of filing this report.
PREMIUM TIMES also contacted Governor Seyi Makinde’s Chief Press Secretary, Taiwo Adisa, on whether the governor had been briefed about the recent alleged killings.
He simply told our correspondent that “I am going to see the commandant of Amotekun now because he is going to address the media. You should wait for the response of Amotekun itself. What I heard was that Amotekun went on a raid of areas where there have been reports of kidnappings in recent weeks and whatever happened afterwards, the commandant would tell us in details.”
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