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Crime & Punishment of Wednesday, 10 March 2021

Source: guardian.ng

Ibarapa monarch laments activities of Wakili men

Fulani herdsmen warlord, Iskilu Wakili Fulani herdsmen warlord, Iskilu Wakili

The Odomofin of Ayete, Igangan area in Ibarapa North Local Council of Oyo State, Chief Saubana Oyewole, has lamented that his subjects now buy food as they cannot farm due to the activities of men of the arrested Fulani herdsmen warlord, Iskilu Wakili.
Oyewole, under whose domain Wakili loomed largely, stated this in an interview with journalists yesterday.

He alleged that Wakili had committed many atrocities against local farmers in Ayete, especially in the past five years.

He said that the way Fulani herders had been destroying their farmland, showed that they were probably ready for war.

The monarch also alleged that some days after a meeting with stakeholders in Igangan towards achieving peace, Fulani herdsmen, led by the notorious Wakili, set ablaze his brother’s 10 acres of cashew farm in Kajola area of Ayete.

Odomofin said: “Our people are now buying food from these Fulani because they cannot farm again. Their cows would eat up all our farms and would not touch their own. We now buy food from them. They also burgled my daughter’s shop at Konko Market. We met their motorcycle at the shop after they had burgled it. They also burgled another shop last night. They kidnap, rape our ladies and even kill our people.

“They are ready for war, and we are only trying to manage the situation. We are only being patient because of the rule of law.”

Wakili has denied any link with kidnapping and other criminal activities in the area.

He said he was also a victim of kidnapping, having had to pay ransom to kidnappers who abducted his sons.

He claimed that he fainted several times after his arrest, having been ill for some time.

“Sometime last year, two of my children were kidnapped and I paid millions of naira as ransom before they were released. I am not a kidnapper.
“Two days after my return from hospital in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, I was lying down because I was ill and suddenly, some women came and started shouting that armed Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) men had come looking for me,” he said.

“I asked them to flee but I could not run because I was sick. Two men later came and picked me from where I was lying down. They threw me inside their vehicle naked. I fainted many times before they drove me to the police station in Igboora. From there, we were taken to SCID, Ibadan.

“I am not a criminal and my children are not criminals. I don’t know anything about kidnapping or any crime. I have many cows and I know they stray into farms at times but I don’t have criminal records anywhere and this can be investigated. After they took me away from my home, a woman, Tande, was killed,” Wakili said.