A woman in Kwara State has claimed that the agents of the Department of State Services (DSS) preemptively disarmed local vigilantes shortly before a deadly bandit attack that killed her husband and others in the Oke-Ode community.
In a distressed video, the grieving widow alleged that the DSS collected guns from the Yoruba vigilantes, and subsequently, bandits attacked the community, killing her husband, his brother, and several others (some reports mention up to 14 or 15 deaths, including vigilantes).
The distraught woman called on the Kwara State Government to come to her people’s aid after terrorists who had been attacking communities in the incessantly, killed her husband.
In a distressing video circulating on social media at the time, the lady is seen crying and lamenting the death of her husband and called on authorities to do something to intervene.
The traumatized woman also accused authorities of complicity in the endless attacks in the Oke-Ode community of Ifelodun local government area of the state.
Speaking in Yoruba language, the grieving woman said: “They have killed my husband, I have no one, I am the one videoing myself. Kwara State Government, they have killed my husband. The Department of State Services gave guns to Miyetti Allah after collecting guns from Yoruba Vigilantes.
“My husband was coming home, they broke the glass of the vehicle he was in and killed him and his brother, they killed 14 persons. They killed 10 vigilantes and took away husband and wife.
“We currently are at Oke-Ode, the community is scattering, even the Police cannot do anything, they are not in control of anything. This is my husband, Ishola, I cannot run from his corpse, I cannot run from my husband’s corpse.
“The government kept quiet and sent the DSS, the DSS failed to use any helicopter except at night, while the attackers now came in the afternoon. They came 7 am in the morning, you all can see me, you can see me.
Videos circulating on social media show other distraught community members mourning their loved ones while others were seen evacuating in panic.
Videos circulating on social media show distraught community members mourning their loved ones while others were seen evacuating in panic.
Accusing the government of negligence, she said: “The government kept quiet and sent the DSS, the DSS failed to use any helicopter except at night, while the attackers now came in the afternoon. They came 7am in the morning, you all can see me, you can see me.”
In another video, residents of Oke-Ode were captured leaving the community amid heightened fear of more violence.
An affected resident said: “These are people entering vehicles and running away, even using Keke Napep (Tricycle). We have made efforts and we are tired. People are running away from the community even students.”
The Kwara State Police Command later confirmed that 12 vigilante members, including the Baale (Community leader) of Ogbayo, were killed during the armed attack on Sunday morning.
In a statement on Sunday, the command said the incident occurred at about 7:00 a.m. when gunmen invaded the Ogbayo area of Oke-Ode and opened fire indiscriminately.
However, the Kwara State Government later dismissed rumours that operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) disarmed vigilantes in Oke-Ode, a town in Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state.
“There is no truth to the claim that DSS withdrew weapons from the forest guards at any time. The leadership of the forest guards has disputed this claim,” Rafiu Akakaye, who is Chief Press Secretary to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq, said in a statement.
The Kwara State Government regretted that security agencies in the state “expressed strong reservations about the demoralising, albeit false, claim which was made in a viral video.
“We pray to God to console the bereaved woman— and every other one — but her claim is not true,” noted the statement, quickly adding, “this clarification does not in any way delegitimise her grief.”
