Razed building, car
As
the clash between factions in Ganmo, a community along Offa-Ajase Road,
Kwara State, enter its second day (Monday), two persons have been
killed while six others have sustained serious injuries.
The names of the deceased were given as Shifaw Raji and Raheem Kolawole.
Also, seven houses and three cars were set ablaze during the clash.
It was however gathered that policemen had arrested no fewer than 15 persons in connection with the incident.
Our correspondent gathered that a policeman was shot in the stomach and is currently hospitalised.
The crisis which erupted on Sunday
continued till Monday morning despite the deployment of some police
officers in the crisis-torn community.
A source told our correspondent on
Monday that attacks on a police officer, Jimoh Oluwadare, and his
lawyer, Mr. Manzune Issah, sparked off a crisis which had been brewing
as Ganmo people and Gana
settlers had been having a cold war over chieftaincy matters.
Oluwadare, in company with Issah, had gone to a piece of land said to be belonging to his family.
But surprisingly some hoodlums attacked them, tied Issah and chased Jimoh until he ran into the house
of the head of his family at Idi Ogun.
The hoodlums were said to have later burnt the house. But a detachment of policemen drafted to the area later rescued Issah.
The attacks were said to have triggered a
chieftaincy ‘war’ in the community. The source said a faction in the
community was uncomfortable with the upgrading by the state government
of Oluganna stool to a fourth-class status and the announcement of Oba
Abdullahi Kolawole as the Ganmo monarch. The government, however, had
yet to present a staff of office to Kolawole.
The source added that the two factions,
Kolawole supporters and those opposed to him, freely used dangerous
weapons against each other.
The Kwara State Police Public Relations
Officer, Mr. Olufemi Fabode, confirmed to journalists that two people
died during the crisis.
He stated that 15 suspects had been arrested in connection with the attacks, adding that they would soon be charged to court.
He also said that the crisis was the
fallout of a chieftaincy tussle in the community, adding that the
command had ordered that the Assistant Commissioner of Police, in charge
of Operations to take full control of the situation.
He appealed to the residents and community leaders to ensure peaceful co-existence in the community and shun further violence.
Meanwhile, an Upper Area Court in Ilorin
on Monday arraigned a lawyer, Mr. Joseph Oyeleye, over alleged sales of
fake land worth N210,000 to a complainant, Kunle Lawal. The
complainant’s counsel, Mr. Lukman Zakkariyah, said his client was ready
to go on with the matter.
Zakkariya urged the court to allow commencement of the hearing in the case for justice to take its effect.
He said that his client had approached Oyeleye to get him a piece of land at Asa Dam and he paid Oyeleye N210,000.
“Sometimes in July, 2011,one Oyeleye
Joseph Bolaji of 28 Asa Dam road,Ilorin misrepresent himself as agent of
Jagun Labala Family who are owners of a piece of land at Asa-Dam and
fraudulently obtained the sum of N209,000 from him being payment for a
piece of land situated at
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