Clash: Residents groan as security agents shut Ifon, Erin-Osun, Ilobu towns

Many residents and indigenes were on Tuesday left groaning as three major towns in Irepodun and Orolu Local Government Areas of Osun State – Ifon, Erin-Osun and Ilobu- were shut down by security agents as part of measures to deal with the communal clash in the towns. Fight broke out between Erin-Osun and Ilobu towns […]

Many residents and indigenes were on Tuesday left groaning as three major towns in Irepodun and Orolu Local Government Areas of Osun State – Ifon, Erin-Osun and Ilobu- were shut down by security agents as part of measures to deal with the communal clash in the towns.

Fight broke out between Erin-Osun and Ilobu towns on Saturday and many lives were lost while others sustained injuries and properties destroyed.

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Soldiers and policemen, enforcing the curfew declared by the state government to douse the tension, left nothing to chance and there were movement restrictions while markets were shut.

Artisans, who rely on daily income, lamented that they could not work and feed their dependents since Saturday and that their families, particularly the children, were suffering at home.

Mrs Mujeedat Olayemi, a market woman in the town, told Eko Trust that the items she bought and planned to sell at the Ifon weekly market on Monday were perishable and that she lost a huge amount of money as a result.

The residents of the three towns pleaded with the state government and police authorities to lift the curfew but the Police Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola said that would happen only when peace has been fully restored in the town.

Meanwhile, peace seems to be returning to the town gradually after the traditional rulers of the affected towns, at a peace meeting with the state Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola and the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Wale Olokode in Osogbo, signed a peace pact and agreed to live together in harmony.