…Hon. Pally Iriase laments kidnapping, maiming and raping spree in Owan East

Hon. Pally Iriase, the Deputy Majority Whip of the House of Representatives, representing Owan East/West Federal Constituency in Edo State, says, in this interview, that bandits have been terrorising Edo North.

By Emman Ovuakporie

You have alleged that bandits almost in  the form of Boko Haram have been terrorising your constituency. How are you sure they are local bandits?

No, they are not. It has become  very urgent and important to cry out about the unrelenting  atrocities perpetrated by these armed bandits in Owan East, Akoko-Edo and parts of Etsako in Edo State.

Iriase…Bandits on the prowl are sharp shooters

The once peaceful and vast forests  bordering Auchi, Warrake, Ivbiaro, Ikpeshi, Ihievbe-Ogben, Otuo, Igarra and Sasaro have been taken over by heavily  armed bandits who established “no-go-area” camps. On daily basis, these armed men take over the roads  and farms in the area, kidnapping people for ransom, killing, maiming  and raping people in their farms and destroying crops on massive scale.

The road from Ihievbe-Ogben to Otuo  witnesses daily kidnapping. Recently, an expatriate staff  on construction site at Otuo Dam was kidnapped on that road when he was going to the site from Auchi.

The bandits kept him in their forest  camp for almost a week, negotiated and extorted huge ransom  from the construction company before he was released. He has since left Nigeria.

Also, recently, a man and his wife were  attacked in their farm at Ivbiaro and the bandits raped the  man’s wife in his presence. Auchi-Warrake-Ivbiaro Road  is just as notorious for daily attacks and kidnapping just as  Ibillo-Auchi and Ihievbe-Ogben to Otuo roads. Farms are raided and burnt with impunity. The people are   suffering in silence because these crimes are not reported for the fear of reprisal attacks which are often more deadly.

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And there has been no help from security agents?

The irony of the situation is that  there are army formations at Agenobode in Etsako East LGA and  Nichoho Barracks at Auchi in   Etsako West LGA. There is  also a mobile police formation at Iyamho  in Etsako West. If  these security forces are coordinated and work in concert to  flush out these bandits from their camps, security will be restored to Edo North.

I hereby call on the military and  police chiefs in Edo State to clear these criminal camps  before they develop into safe havens for terrorists like Boko Haram.

These bandits may well be members of  the  terror gang that have been  dislodged from the North  because, if you see the sophistication  of their weaponry, if  you see their audacity, if you see  the mindlessness with which they go  about their banditry,  and their quest to extort ransom, you  will know that these  men are not herdsmen, they are pure terrorists.

What they are doing is to create a  safe haven in  the forest around Edo North and I  believe that if this is  allowed, whatever we are suffering  now in the North-East  will be transferred to the South.

They are not locals; if they are locals, all you  will know them for is this cut to size  locally made pistols  or at best pump action. You are  talking about people  wielding machine guns. AK 47 is the  least weapon you see them carrying,  so they are beyond  what people call herdsmen and they are sharp shooters.

All those they have killed, they get  them with one shot. If  you are running, just know you are  gone; just make yourself  available and pay whatever ransom they  are talking about and,  like I said, the people are suffering  in  silence.

There has to be an effort by the  military and the police to and this high level banditry. The primary  objective of governance is to secure life and property and that is why it is very  urgent and important that this clarion  call be heeded so  that we don’t have a terrible blow out  that will not be easy to contain.