- Oriyanrin community cries out
By Job Osazuwa
the peace that was once enjoyed by the people of Oriyanrin – a sleepy community in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State, has been distorted.
The residents of the troubled village have cried out and narrated how some youths from Otolu and Ilagbo communities allegedly invaded Oriyanrin to perpetrate murder, arson and criminal conspiracy. According to the aggrieved people, they now live in perpetual fear.
Why they were still struggling to come to terms with the onslaught and to resolve the crisis amicably, members of the Oriyanrin community said they became more worried when their tormentors took the matter to the media to allegedly mislead the public. The publications and other subsequent events, as gathered, are causing everybody in the community nagging headache.
In a letter jointly signed by the Baale of Oriyanrin, Chief Kayode Odunaya; Head of Ogoluga family, Musibau Salami; Head of Ejiko family, Jamiu Buhari; Head of Lasusi family, Liadi Ismail Babatunde and Head of Egunjemi family, Isideen Wahab Egunjemi to the Public Complaints Commission, Lagos, revealed that the loss of lives and destruction of properties happened on 21st and 22nd of May, 2017.
Odunaya told Sunday Sun that trouble began on May 21, when members of the three communities attended the ‘Kilajolu’ masquerade festival in Ilagbo. He recalled that there was a clash where one Oni Alabi from Orinyanrin and a youth from Ilagbo sustained machete wounds. Alabi and the youth, according to him, were taken to the hospital and a patent medicine store respectively for treatment. He informed that the injured youth from Ilagbo later died due to a non-comprehensive medical treatment.
He lamented that the incident opened the floodgate of mayhem and anguish to his town. He recollected how some youths from Otolu and Ilagbo on May 22, allegedly backed up by some popular persons in the two communities, armed themselves with guns and other dangerous weapons to unleash terror on Oriyanrin. He said a member of the community, Shina Ipaye, was one of the victims. Ipaye later died, throwing his immediate family members and friends into mourning. According to the Baale, Seun Taofikat, who was his easy-going subject, was also brutally murdered during the fracas.
He claimed that while one of the leaders of the attackers was targeting one Kola of Oriyanrin with a gun he mistakenly fired at one Musiliu Salami.
The Baale said he contacted Akodo Police Station and Special Armed Robbery Squad, SARS at Ise in the LGA, whom he claimed, sent their men to arrest the evil perpetrators from the other two villages at the scene, though they were later granted bail.
“None of our youths from Oriyanrin was arrested by the policemen at the scene of the crime. However, a couple of days after the unlawful invasion of our community, we were surprised to notice that eight members of our community were arrested by the police from Akodo Police Station in connection with the unlawful invasion. They were subsequently transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Panti, Yaba for further interrogations.
“Following the said unlawful invasion of our community, we instructed our lawyers to file a petition to the Inspector General of Police and the Commissioner of Police, Lagos. We have been informed by our lawyers that the petitions dated May 23, 2017, were received at both offices on the following day,” the Baale said.
Odunaya stated that he and members of his community were shocked when the accused communities went ahead to publish what he referred to as sheer fabrications in one of the national newspapers on October 14 and 21, 2017. He said he could not also understand why some members of his community were later detained at Akodo Police Station and subsequently transferred to State CID, Panti, Yaba, despite the fact that none of Orinyanrin indigenes was arrested at the scene of the crime on either May 21 or 22.
He lamented and accused those investigating the crisis to have skewed the facts to give a shield to the perpetrators at the expense of Oriyanrin people. He, however, called for a review of the Director of Public Prosecution’s (DPP) legal advice in order to ensure the protection of lives and property in the community.
The letter to the Public Complaints Commission read in parts: “It should be stated that all five persons advised by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to be charged and prosecuted for the murder of Suleiman Akewusola and Salami Musiliu, are from our community. Consequently, we ask the following questions:
“Why is it that the DPP’s Legal Advice was only concerned with the death/murder of Suleiman Akewusola and Salami Musiliu and not also that of Shina Ipaye and Seun Taofikat of Oriyanrin village who were unlawfully killed on May 22? Why is it that the DPP Legal Advice relied heavily on hearsay evidence in arriving at the conclusions drawn?
“Why is it that the DPP’s Legal Advice only relied on the statements of two eyewitnesses, when the investigation and interrogation conducted by the officials of CID dealt with 24 people; 12 of whom were eyewitnesses to the criminal activities that occurred on both May 21 and 22?
“Why is it that the DPP’s Legal Advice deliberately ignored the autopsy report conducted by government pathologists? Why is it that the post-mortem issued by government pathologists ,which showed that Musiliu Salami died of multiple bullet wounds, as against the claim by the DPP and IPO State CID, Panti that the said Musiliu Salami died as a result of beating received with stick and nails on his head?”