The Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the South-West, Adegoke Fayoade, has called on the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, to collaborate with other security agencies and put an end to the recurring cases of extrajudicial killings in the state.
Fayoade gave the directive at a meeting held at the Osun State Police Command Headquarters in Osogbo on Friday with heads of security organisations in the state.
The meeting was also attended by the Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC, Oluwatoyin Babalola; the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in the state, Pastor John Adeleke; representatives of the All Progressives Congress; and journalists.
The ruling party in the state, Accord, however, did not send representatives to the meeting convened by the visiting DIG.
Addressing the gathering, Fayoade frowned at the reckless killings by suspected cultists in the state and charged the CP to identify the hideouts of those involved and bring them to justice.
He said the rise in cult-related killings in the state was a spillover from similar incidents that occurred in 2022, adding that indiscriminate killings should not be allowed to continue.
“We must not let this happen, there is no benefit in cultism. I don’t think any society should tolerate that. On a very serious note, the CP have to collaborate with other agencies. We don’t care what people, whatever affiliation they have or party they are, as long as they are disturbing the peace of the people, they must be brought to book.
“There must be a joint show of force. In fact, from today, from this weekend, if you can organise this weekend, every weekend, till the day of the election, there must be a joint patrol. Come out in full force with your armoured vehicles, with everything in your arsenal. Move around all the nooks and crannies of the state.
“That will send signals to the perpetrators that this is not a business as usual again. We should create a checkpoints where some of these arms they are moving about can be intercepted, I have told the CP about traditional checkpoints in the state, he must open them especially for this period. It is about 8 or 9,” Fayoade said.
He continued, “This is very important. We don’t care whether they belong to any political party. Ours is they must not disturb the peace of the people. They must not go about their reckless killing.
“One funny thing about them is that if one cult group kills one person today, the other person will revenge tomorrow and be counting scores. It’s a kind of competition. A bad competition over somebody’s precious life. You can see that those boys are not mentally stable. So we don’t have to tolerate them.”
The PUNCH reports that Osun State has experienced a surge in cult-related and politically motivated killings in recent times.
On Sunday, a 14-year-old boy, Ezekiel Olapade, was shot dead by suspected political hoodlums in Ilobu, while one Rogba was also murdered in Esa-Oke on Tuesday by yet-to-be-identified gunmen.