News sources have revealed that The Nigerian Human Rights Community (NHRC) has disclosed that indigenes of Yewa communities in Ogun state are being displaced by armed groups terrorizing the area.
The communities in Yewa Ogun state which have been enlisted by NHRC as facing these unwelcomed security challenges include; Iganna, Ibeku, Open, and Igbo-Oko. According to NHRC reports, they have been under the constant attack of unknown gunmen.
Some officials of the group whose names were given as Adewale Adeoye, Kudu Abubakar, and Chibuzor Ogbonnaya, narrated their own experience while speaking to media correspondence and asserted that an estimated number of at least 60 persons have either been killed, kidnapped, or maimed in the area in the past few years.
According to the community analysis, they claimed that the effects of the ongoing crisis have led to the displacement of numerous people in Yewa. What is also more disturbing is their concern and thought that should the unknown armed groups terrorizing the area be given the freedom to grow, then the situation in the communities could then be likened to that of the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east region of the federation where millions have been confirmed to either be dead, kidnapped or displaced and display displaced.
In their own words;
“What we see is that this armed group is establishing a stronghold in Ogun State using Yewa as its hub. The communities the terrorists occupy are largely border towns. They are also active in the forests located on borders in the area. The implication is that they are likely to have access to small arms. They are in the best position to receive weapons through the seized border from as far as Niger and the Maghreb region,” NHRC said.
“There are signals of greater conflict in the Yewa area. The occupation of some of the forests by armed groups remains a source of worry to locals. It poses danger not only to the Yewa community but also to Ogun State, its environs, and the entire South West. We expect the Federal Government to take drastic action to flush out the bandits. If nothing is done, the small group may develop into a major triangle of evil sooner than expected. This was exactly how the problem started in Borno State.
“We call on the Federal Government to address the grievous security situation in Yewa. As we speak, thousands of indigenous people in Yewa are in the Benin Republic. They were displaced from their ancestral homeland. There is a high probability that Yewa may emerge as a theater of more grievous cases of kidnapping and terrorist activities unless concrete efforts are taken to deal with the situation.”
Meanwhile, reports indicate that the government of Ogun state had already swung into action by launching a proposed reprisal attack with the invitation and aid of Amotekun to come into the picture to try and remedy the situation since representatives of the communities have revealed that there are doubts in the ability of the local security outfit to combat the problems posed by the gunmen who have been confirmed to have sophisticated weapons.
The spokespersons for the group concluded by asserting that a written letter has been sent to the national assembly imploring the aid of the lawmakers to act swiftly on the enjoin security officials of the urgency and need to enforce law and order in these communities and environs.
Gift Joseph Okpakorese
Staff Writer
