The Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, says President Muhammadu Buhari and Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun must ensure the protection of the people of Yewaland from criminal herdsmen or the people would do so themselves.
He gave the charge while bemoaning the raping, kidnapping, maiming and killing of indigenes of the land by Fulani herdsmen.
The king spoke against the backdrop of the invasion of Igbooro, Oja-Odan in Yewa North Local Government Area of the state by herdsmen on Friday night.
Three villages were killed and two others injured in the incident.
The herdsmen reportedly also set three houses and warehouses ablaze in the community as residents scampered for safety due to sporadic gunshot from the assailants.
Before the latest incident, five other persons had been killed in Owode Ketu.
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Reating in a statement addressed to the president and governor on Saturday, Oba Olugbenle identified some of the Yewa communities affected by the nefarious activities of the herdsmen as Egua, Oja-Odan, Igan-Alade, Gbokoto, Ijoun, Owode-ketu, Ebute, Igbooro, and Imeko-Afon.
Warning that a “stitch in time saves nine”, the monarch said, “The attention of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, and all the security agencies is drawn to the continued siege of the entire Yewaland of Ogun State in the last few weeks by armed herdsmen and bandits callously killing, including literally slaughtering and maiming our people.
“The Federal Government and the Ogun State government are hereby implored, as a matter of extreme urgency, to act fast to secure the lives and property of our people before it spirals out of complete control.
“In this situation, it is not out of place that people may resort to self-help to defend themselves if the government fails to guarantee their safety as citizens of Nigeria in the face of renewed insurgency by these criminals terrorising our people with arms and dangerous weapons.”