Property loss has resulted from the escalating conflict between the communities of Ifon and Ilobu in Orolu Local Government, Irepodun Local Government, and Osun State.
At midnight, when things started to get unstable, some inhabitants of the two feuding villages abandoned their homes.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in one of the two communities was shot, according to State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Yemisi Opalola, who made the announcement on Thursday. The other four officers are being treated in the hospital for gun injuries.
Opalola claims that police officers sent to keep the peace were ambushed, resulting in numerous injuries.
She said,
“They have burnt a police vehicle. The new vehicles they bought for our monitoring section. Four policemen are in hospital now. The DPO is still at the hospital. He was shot in the hand.
“They ambushed policemen where we went to restore peace,” Opalola said.
But, the Secretary of Ifon-Orolu Progressive Union Board of Trustees, Prince Jide Akinyooye, said the gazette that ceded parts of the land belonging to Ifon to Ilobu during Rauf Aregbesola’s regime has been causing crisis.
“We are in danger. We have tried to avoid a reprisal but the refusal of the police to act may lead to another thing,” Akinyooye said.