Youths protest killing of vigilante commandant during rescue operations

Youths in the Igbaja community in the Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, on Tuesday, took to the streets, protesting the murder of the commandant of a vigilante group, Chief Lukman Balogun.

Balogun, the commandant of the vigilantes, was until his death on Monday evening the Jagun of Igbaja land.

Reliable sources in the town who spoke to PUNCH Metro on Tuesday said that Balogun was allegedly killed by kidnappers believed to be itinerant herdsmen who invaded the community on Sunday and abducted three people in the early hours of Monday while another two people were reportedly kidnapped from Kajola village in the early hours of Tuesday.

The coordinator of Kwara South Elders Security Forum, Elder Olaitan Oyin-Zubair, who confirmed the abduction of five people from the community, told our correspondent that three people were abducted from the community in the early hours of Monday while two other people were abducted at Kajola village, a suburb, in Igbaja in the early hours of Tuesday.
Oyin-Zubair confirmed that the late commandant was killed during the exchange of fire between the vigilantes and the kidnappers.

“The Jagun of Igbaja land, Chief Lukman Balogun, died on Monday evening during the exchange of fire between the kidnappers and the vigilante group who were on a rescue mission in the forest.

“Right now, the combined team of the police, military and vigilante men are in the forest around Igbaja and Oke-Ode searching for the abducted victims”, Oyin-Zubair told PUNCH Metro in a telephone conversation on Tuesday.
The youths who have been threatening to pull the community down accused the Bororo cattle herders of perpetrating the heinous crime.

Another source who pleaded anonymity said the deceased was among the team on the trail of some kidnappers who had abducted a prominent resident of the town.
“It was at the Ogele-Yaaru Road that our Balogun was killed,” the source (name withheld,) hinted on the phone.

The chairman of the state’s Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Comrade Afolabi Lukman, described the late local security commandant as a thorn in the flesh of criminals in the area.

“He has in no small means assisted the police in checking crimes and criminals in Igbaja land,” Afolabi said.

He urged the state government to strengthen the security frontiers, saying, “This is a great setback on the state’s security architecture.”

The Kwara State Police Command has yet to confirm the abduction of the five people and the killing of Balogun as of the time of filing this story on Tuesday evening.
Calls put to both the Police Public Relations Officer, Ejire-Adeyemi’s phone as well as that of the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Victor Olaiya, were not responded to while the SMS and WhatsApp messages sent to them were not replied to.

Meanwhile, the paramount ruler, Elese of Igbaja land, Oba Ahmed Babalola Arepo III has charged the protesters to be calm, describing Jagun’s death as a big blow to Igbaja.

He assured the youths that the perpetrators of the dastardly act would be apprehended and brought to book.

Also, the Chairman of Ifelodun Local Government Area, Alhaji Femi Yusuf, who led a delegation to the area, commiserated with the community on the death of Jagun, and assured them that all hands would be on deck to track down the kidnappers who were the killers of the late chief.