’Why militants went after Lagos/Ogun border residents’

The  Ayangburen  of Ikorodu, Lagos State, Oba Adewale Shotobi, and  the Ranodu of Imota, Oba Ajibade Agoro, on Monday, led other traditional rulers in  Ikorodu Division on a sympathy visit to Primero Transport Services, operators of the damaged Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, buses, vandalized by miscreants, at its headquarters, in Ikorodu, following the mayhem that was triggered by the killing of a traffic hawker by a fast moving truck while trying to escape from law enforcement agents.  Apparently irked by nefarious activities perpetrated  around Ikorodu, Agoro  expressed concerns and spoke with Sunday Vanguard on the invasion of  Lagos, Ogun border communities around Ikorodu by suspected militants.

Reason for incessant attacks

It’s not a pleasure to be here because we are here to sympathise with the owners of the damaged BRT buses  serving our area. We are concerned as traditional rulers of Ikorodu Division, as people of Ikorodu Division because these buses ply our route.

Where this happened, from  the reports we gathered, was between Ketu and  Maryland, along Ikorodu Road and this is why we are concerned. One can not quantify the loss the owner  sustained on the damaged buses. We have inspected the damaged 48 buses. If they want to put them back on the road, it will cost  millions and this is why we are concerned.

We are only praying  God  to spare us this type of unbecoming attitude to  the economic development of Ikorodu. We know Ikorodu Division is becoming  metropolitan, and we are not criminals, but we know that we have many people now who do  not belong here but are residents here and there is no way we cannot have this type of situation. We are only appealing to them as much as we want to habour them, they should  maintain our long standing good name.

Of recent, there was a  report  about Ikorodu  which was disheartening to our people. The report  termed us  criminals and this stemmed  from the vandalisation of oil pipelines. Perpetrrator of armed robbery, kidnapping, ritual killing, among others  are not indigenes of Ikorodu.

What happened in the case of vandalisation of the buses was because of street trading. I know if our people were involved, they would be a minute percentage. We are not happy making this kind of visit  to  sympathise with the bus operators. It’s a colossal loss. The buses have ben run aground and if they must return to the road, millions of Naira would be spent and this could have been used  to prosecute  other profitable ventures. If it’s not for a company with financial muzzle it would be the end of their operation. If they don’t have the financial wherewithal, they would just be run aground and this will be to our disadvantage in Ikorodu Division.

Therefore, we are appealing to residents to maintain the peace, we are no  criminals; we habour them, we are very accommodating because of our closeness to the city of Lagos. We don’t want to shy away from our responsibilities; so they should think of us for according them warm reception, reciprocate our gesture by not vandalizing our economic mainstay and, thereby, abstaining from giving us a bad name.

We only sympathise with the operators of this company that God  will replenish their purse so that they can  put the buses back on the road within the shortest possible time for the betterment of our people and indeed Lagosians.

On the criminalization of Ikorodu people, we want to tell the world that we are no  criminals here, but  because this happened along Ikorodu Road,  there is no way we can  remove ourselves from the incident. Law is made to be obeyed; if you go against the law and you are caught, but you don’t blame  government. If you don’t trample upon the law, nobody will chase you about. They should obey our laws in Lagos and not turn Lagos into a  jungle city where people go about without regulation and no government will tolerate that. The people should think of us the host before committing any crime because the blame will be on us. We only pray  God  to stop recurrence of all these violence and crimes.

On measures  in place to stop further violence

We have made representation to  government and, in this type of situation, there is little or nothing we can do as human beings. What happened in Ogijo, Ishawo, among our  other communities, about two weeks ago, there was nothing anybody could have done about it. No one will wake up and dare to face  armed men, it is the police who can do that. There is battalion of the Nigeria Army called  24 Motorized  Battalion, in Odogunyan; therefore, we are using this opportunity to call on the  authorities to come to our aid because we are helpless. Who can go and face men armed with AK-47 rifles  because he is a traditional ruler or  a chief?  We are helpless. We have made representation to  government for their intervention.

Youths’ engagement

Our representatives in government, recently, organized seminars to interact with  youths. Hon, Babajimi Benson, representing Ikorodu in the House of Representatives, organized one and S.O.B Agunbiade, Kunle Solaja, representing us in the state House of Assembly did one too.

In modern times, there is little or nothing traditional rulers can do because the economic manpower and resources are  controlled by government. Therefore, it is the government we will call upon to create more jobs for our youths. On our own part, through our representatives, we  are trying for the youths, sponsoring courses, seminars, empowerment among others. These are the little we can do to support  government. But bulk of it lies with the government. It has the economic power to do  it, it was like those days when kings had the power on  economic policies and resources of their communities; it is not so in modern day times. So we are appealing to government to do so, though, they are trying.

 On militants attack

We are collaborating with Ogun and Lagos State governments because the communities affected are on the periphery of Ogun State. These people (attackers) confessed that it was because our people exposed them when they went to vandalized  oil pipelines that  they started  killing them.

Meanwhile, to stop the killing, the police authorities have established a special squad to patrol the area and glory be to God the attack has stopped.

The Neigbourhood Watchers, who first responded  to the massacre, were over powered. They could not withstand the militants  superior fire power. Even the police ran away in the first instance; it was when the newly  formed  squad arrived that the situation was brought under control.

 Permanent solution to invasion and violence in Ikorodu

We will consult our ancestors because it has never been like this. We will consult the ancestors, appease them in order to ward off this type of misfortune. It’s highly necessary to bring back normalcy, peace, love and what have that used  to pervade in Ikorodu.