The Executive Governor of Oyo state, Engr. Seyi Makinde seems to have finally taken a stand on the crisis lately rocking the ancient town of Ajaawa as he had deployed operatives of Operation Burst including soldiers to maintain law and order and particularly protect the people of the community from incessant police nocturnal raids.
According to information, at least two Hilux buses conveyed the heavily armed, stern-looking operatives to the community.
The latest raid on the town was the botched attempt to arrest both the chairman of Ogo-Oluwa local government, Hon Seun Ojo, and Alajaawa of Ajaawa, Oba Thompson Adeyeye Oyetunji on Saturday.
According to reports about forty policemen had stormed the residences of both the chairman and the monarch shooting sporadically in an attempt to take them into custody.
They were said to have ransacked the house of Hon Ojo upturning all items in the rooms.
At the palace, the invading policemen reportedly jumped over the fence to gain access into the building but like the chairman, the Oba also was not at home leading to the arrest of aides of the two.
This is just as gunshots were fired within the Ajaawa market square triggering pandemonium.
Letters were left for them to report at Abuja to answer questions in respect of “alleged case of criminal conspiracy, arson, forcible entry, malicious damage, stealing, assault, occasioning harm, a threat to life, attempted murder and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace in which your name and others were mentioned.”
Each of them received the letter partly bearing the above content, which further asked them to report on July 13, at the office of the Commissioner of Police, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT).
It is also recalled that earlier several other persons in the town had been arrested by the police from Abuja including an attempt on the Chief Priest of the town Chief Adeoye Ifaleye, who died in the process, that operation also led to the death of a police officer.
All the arrests according to information had been accompanied by intense shootings by the police even though the victims were not reported to have resisted arrest or attack the officers.
Meanwhile, it is observed that the Saturday invasion of the town to apprehend the Oba, who is the chairman of Ogo-Oluwa local government council of Obas and Chiefs and the chairman, who is a chief security officer and number one citizen of the council, flagrantly violated the resolution of the governors of the 17 southern states in the country who rose from a meeting last week to demand that the governor of the state must be informed before such sting operations are carried out in their respective states.
Impeccable sources revealed that Governor Makinde was not aware of last Saturday raid on Ajaawa and this could have ignited his decision to deploy Operation Burst operatives to the community.
“Definitely, the governor wouldn’t like a council chairman in his state to be treated like a common felon moreover when no evidence points he is one,” a source posited.
With the development, the people of Ajaawa, many of whom had fled the town have started returning even as men of the Ajaawa Divisional Police headquarters, who abandoned their duty post about three weeks ago have returned owing to the crisis have resumed duty.
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