Vigilantes arrest two suspects in Ekiti

Two suspects were on Friday nabbed by local hunters in connection with the armed attacks and killings at Iyemero Ekiti in the Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti Command, Mr Caleb Ikechukwu, said the arrested suspects were being detained at the police headquarters in Ado Ekiti.

Ikechukwu said, “Our men have begun an investigation into their case and they will be charged to court upon conclusion of our investigation.”

Following their arrest by the local hunters, the monarch of the community, the Olu of Iyemero, Oba Ebenezar Ogungbemi, was said to have called the Police Commissioner, Mr Asuquo Amba, who sent his men to arrest them and take the culprits to Ado Ekiti.

The head of local hunters in the town, Mr Jimoh Eisikin, said the suspects were arrested by his men around 1am on Friday.

According to him, the local hunters working with the security agencies laid an ambush for the herdsmen at Eda and arrested them while on a mission to attack the village, saying, “These herders had been raping our women and killing our people in the last six months.

“During the onslaught leading to their arrest yesterday, two of our village hunters were macheted by the evil doers. But for the fact that we were prepared, we got them arrested after chasing them into the bush.

“We brought them to Iyemero and tied them down at the village square with close security monitoring,” he said.

Sources in Iyemero Ekiti said Eda farmstead had been raided by the suspected herdsmen no fewer than five times within the last two months just as the monarch, Ogungbemi, said the assailants were out to sack the residents, who were predominantly farmers and to take over the land.

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Consequently, Governor Kayode Fayemi had ordered the immediate construction of a police post in the town and also ordered the deployment of combined forces of security agencies and local hunters to patrol the town up to its boundary with Kwara and Kogi States.