The Oodua Peoples Congress, on Sunday, said the men of Nigeria Police Force in the Oyo State detained three OPC operatives for arresting notorious Fulani warlord Iskilu Wakili, who has been accused of sundry crimes in the Ayete area of Ibarapaland in the state.
The PUNCH had reported that farmers and residents of Ayete lived in perpetual fear of Wakili who was accused of displacing them from their farms.
It was gathered that Wakili, who is said to be the leader of the herdsmen in Ayete worked with dozens of herders who are his disciples. Together with his battalion, they allegedly seized hectares of farmlands at Ayete, raped the women in the rustic town, and kidnapped their rich men for ransom.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH on Sunday, Adedeji Oluwole, the OPC sector coordinator who led his operatives and other vigilante groups to arrest Wakili, said the suspect was nabbed on Sunday morning.
Oluwole, the Federal Capital Territory OPC coordinator, who is also an indigene of Igboora, said he relocated four months ago to Ayete to bring Wakili to book after security agencies failed to arrest him.
The OPC leader said it took over four days of continued operations and surveillance to nab Wakili and three of his accomplices.
According to Oluwole, more than 10 OPC operatives went on the mission. He said Wakili’s men shot fiercely at the OPC operatives before they were eventually nabbed.
He, however, expressed shock that the police detained three of his men after they handed over Wakili.
“My men are still in police custody now,” Oluwole told The PUNCH on Sunday afternoon.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in Oyo State, Olugbenga Fadeyi, did not respond to calls put to his line. A text message sent to his phone was also not replied to as of the time of filing this report. (Punch)
