The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, has raised the alarm that some fighters of the dreaded Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have been stationed in the Oke Ogun area of Oyo State.
Adams, who is the generalissimo of the Yorubaland, said this on Tuesday in a communiqué at the end of the extraordinary meeting of the Ààre Ònàkakanfò-in-Council, which was presided over by him.
The Chairman of the Oyo State Security Network, codenamed Operation Amotekun, Col. Kunle Togun (retd.), also confirmed Adam’s claim.
Togun, a former Director, Directorate of Army Intelligence, said he had been saying what Adams said, but nobody took him seriously.
Togun said, “I have been saying this for a long time. I have been saying that our land has been infiltrated. These so-called Fulani herdsmen are not herdsmen but foreign terrorists.
“I mentioned it in January 2018 at a forum of the Oyo Council of Elders. The United States of America also said this a few weeks ago.”
Adams called on the Federal Government to ensure that Nigerian borders were secure to prevent further infiltration by criminals and terrorists.
The communiqué read in part, “The Ààre Ona Kakanfo-in-Council has in its possession credible intelligence gathered from within and outside the country, which strongly indicates the infiltration of terrorists and killer Fulani herdsmen in the region.
“More worrisome, the intelligence report also reveals that suspected ISIS operatives have already positioned themselves in Niger State via Ìbàrùbáland, and are now within the Òkè-Ogùn corridor of Òyó State.
“Indeed, the intelligence also revealed that about 500 power bikes and armours belonging to the terrorists have been physically sighted along the abandoned Lusada route moving towards Sokoto, from Igbó-Orà in Òyo State.
“The council, therefore, enjoin all South-West governors as well as the governors of Kwara and Kogi states to emulate the Governor of Benue State, Mr Samuel Ortom, by directing their citizens to apply for gun licences for self-defence against the marauding terrorists and killer herdsmen.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in Oyo, State, Mr Olugbenga Fadeyi, had yet to respond to an inquiry by our correspondent on the presence of ISIS in the state as of the time of filing this story.