Normalcy returns to Kwara community after security operatives, drivers clash

Normalcy returned to Ilesha-Baruba community in the Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara on Monday after a Friday clash between security operatives and commercial vehicles drivers.

The clash between the security operatives and drivers in the area left at least three persons dead and several people injured from gunshots.

Newsmen reports that the clash occurred on Friday during a misunderstanding over “bookings’’ between the operatives mounting roadblocks on the Ilesha-Baruba/Chikanda highway and commercial drivers plying the route.

The corpses of the deceased, which had earlier been deposited at a morgue in Saki, Oyo State, were brought into Ilesha-Baruba on Sunday night for burial.

Newsmen who went round the community reports that the residents have returned to their normal businesses.

Market men and women were seen thronging into the international cattle market located in the area.

Operatives of security agencies were sighted patrolling the area to further douse tension.

The security operatives have also temporarily withdrawn from the checkpoints.

The Emir of Ilesha-Baruba, Prof. Halidu Abubakar, told newsmen it was regrettable that a small misunderstanding between the residents and security operatives could lead to an unfortunate loss of lives.

Abubakar blamed the incident on pent-up grievances between the operatives and members of the transport union.

The grievances, he said, was due to alleged extortion of commercial motorists by the operatives.

The traditional ruler, however, commended the prompt response of the police in containing the spread of the crisis.

He said that the community enlisted the help of elected political officials from the area to fund the treatment of the injured,

“This is because treatment of gunshot injuries is always expensive. You know majority of us here are Muslims. So we have taken the issue as an act of God.

“We are all families one way or the other and we have been able to talk to the families of the deceased,’’ the emir said.

He commended Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and the Speaker of the Kwara House of Assembly for their support during and after the crisis.