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Published 14 February 2021
Early in January, a torrent of bad news started emanating from the Ibarapa axis of Oyo State. The stories were about kidnapping, attacks by killer herdsmen and destruction of farmlands across Ibarapaland.
Incidentally, those attacks were on the heels of the alarm earlier raised by Governor ‘Seyi Makinde when he declared in Saki, a key town in Oke Ogun axis of the state in December 2020, that some criminal elements were crossing the international borders into the forests around Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa. He said that the state would not allow criminal elements seize the state and terrorise its people.
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Early in January, a torrent of bad news started emanating from the Ibarapa axis of Oyo State. The stories were about kidnapping, attacks by killer-herdsmen and destructions of farmlands across Ibarapaland.
Incidentally, those attacks were on the heels of the alarm earlier raised by Governor‘Seyi Makinde when he declared in Saki, a key town in Oke Ogun axis of the state in December 2020 that some criminal elements were crossing the international borders into the forests around Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa. He said that the state would not allow criminal elements seize hold of the state and terrorise its people.
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INVESTIGATION: Inside the Igangan abductions, killings that exposed Oyo’s herder crisis
Destruction of farmlands by cattle - and herders - is barely avoidable in Nigeria s outdated open grazing system and criminals are taking advantage. 13 min read
Before Igangan, 177 kilometres from Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, was propelled to national attention in the past weeks, Taiwo Adeagbo, a local farmer-leader, had collected several photographs, depicting bloodied and savagely hacked human bodies. His collection also includes the photograph of a rape victim, lying sick with a machete cut.
The forceful removal of the Fulani population in the town by a group inspired by Sunday “Igboho” Adeyemo, a self-acclaimed Yoruba warlord, had catapulted Igangan into national prominence.
Akinwale Aboluwade
Barely four days after the Commandant of the Oyo State Security Network Agency otherwise called Amotekun, Col. Olayinka Olayanju (retd.), declared that the Oke Ogun and Ibarapa zone of the state was safe for residents, a 65-year-old farmer has been reportedly killed in Igangan.
Residents of Igangan community in Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State were thrown into mourning on Wednesday as Bashiru Akinlotan, a native of the town, was found dead on the farm.
Akinlotan, who was alone at the time of the incident, was suspected to have been strangled by some yet-to-be identified bandits who consequently set his cocoa plantation on fire.
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In this interview by KEHINDE OYETIMI, Alhaji Lasisi Folohunso Aborode, father to deceased Dr. Fatai Aborode who was allegedly murdered by herdsmen in December, 2020, speaks about the long history of herder settlements in Ibarapa axis of Oyo State, the advent of unrest in the zone and the death of his son.
How long have you lived here in Igangan?
I am an indigene of Igangan. I am retired as chief environmental health officer. I am the father of the late Dr. Fatai Aborode. I am also the Baba Adinni of Igangan land which means that I am one of the religious leaders of Igangan. I was on January 16, 1942. I clocked 79 on January 16, this year.