Motion sponsor noted that the persistent killings and kidnappings of innocent citizens of Ijagba, Imoru, Molete, Arimogija, Ute, and Okeluse axis in Ose Local Government Area by herdsmen and bandits had kept the communities in perpetual siege and bondage.
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The House of Representatives has directed two of its Committees to ensure mechanisms aimed at nipping persistent cases of kidnappings and banditry at Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State in the bud, are activated.
These Committees are those on National Security and Intelligence, as well as the Committee on National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), upon its constitution.
The development followed the motion moved by Rep. Timehin Adelegbe, at the House plenary on Wednesday, which also sought to direct NEMA to provide emergency relief materials to cushion the effect of the hardship suffered by the people.
Rep. Adelegbe noted that “the persistent killings and kidnappings of innocent citizens of Ijagba, Imoru, Molete, Arimogija, Ute, and Okeluse axis in Ose Local Government Area by herdsmen and bandits had kept the communities in perpetual siege and bondage leading to wanton loss of lives, properties, and farmlands.”
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The lawmaker averred “that in the last two years over fifty innocent lives had been lost, with several kidnapped and unaccounted for, including the recent kidnap of Mr. Isaac Ohimeren and his son Solomon Ohimeren, while his father was murdered; the son was released after the payment of N400,000 ransom.”
Speaking further, Rep. Timehin said in the same Local Government Area, one of the foremost traditional rulers in the State, the late Oba Israel Adeusi, the Olufon of Ifon, was shot dead while returning from a function in the State capital on 26th November 2020.
The Ondo legislator further rued the situation of Bola Adelegbe, a former Chairman of Ose Local Government Council, kidnapped on 23rd April 2023 along the same route and has not been released despite paying a substantial amount for his ransom.
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He described the community as that which is heavily dependent on farming, but unfortunately, the locales, for some time now, have not been able to access their farms. This, he noted, was due to the activities of the criminals who have turned the forests around the axis into their base.
The motion sponsor, thus, stressed the threat of imminent hunger in the land, hence the call on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to immediately move in and provide relief materials for the affected communities.
