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The Kwara State Government on Wednesday, announced the lifting of the curfew imposed on Offa and Erin-Ile communities after....
The Kwara State Government on Wednesday, announced the lifting of the curfew imposed on Offa and Erin-Ile communities after bloody clashes in which lives and property were lost.
The decision to lift the curfew was arrived at during a State Security Council meeting where peace in the communities was reviewed and the government was satisfied with the security report it received.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Police Command, Mr. Adeola Adeniji, who briefed journalists on the outcome of the meeting, said, 'The development was occasioned by the return of peace to the area."
Adeniji thanked the traditional rulers of Offa and Erin-Ile and other stakeholders in the communal crisis for cooperating with the authorities to ensure that normalcy returned to the communities.
He, however, warned mischief makers to desist from acts capable of breaching the peace and urged all and sundry to go about their lawful duties without fear of attack.
The Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has approved the lifting of the curfew in both communities and promised that a lasting solution would be found to the boundary dispute between the two towns.
A 6pm to 6am curfew was imposed on the communities about a month ago when the hostilities broke out and the parties appeared recalcitrant.
Soldiers and riot policemen mounted roadblocks at about every 500 metres between Offa and Erin-Ile.
The curfew was, however, reviewed to 8pm to 6am about two weeks ago, following appeals, especially by the students of the Federal Polytechnic, Offa and other law-abiding groups.
The Commander of 22 Armoured Brigade, Nigeria Army, Sobi Barracks, Ilorin, Brig.-Gen. Saleh Maina; Commander of the Airforce Base, Ilorin, Group Captain Ishaya Maida; and the Special Adviser to the governor on Security Matters, Alhaji Yinka Aluko, were all at the briefing.