Owo Church Killing ISWAP Responsible- FG
The Federal Government has disclosed that last Sunday’s attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, by gunmen, leading to the death of worshippers, have been linked to Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP).
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, who alongside Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman, briefed State House Correspondents at the end of National Security Council Meeting said the police had been ordered to go after the perpetrators of the act and bring them to justice.
He said the imprint of ISWAP was found at the scene of the attack, vowing that they will be brought to Justice.
He said: “The Council is quite concerned about the violent attack in Owo, Ondo State. We have been able to locate the imprints of the perpetrators of that attack, and from all indications, we are zeroing in on the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP).
It is not an ethno-religious thing. The ISWAP members, wanting attention and recognition, are suspected to have carried out that attack and we have directed all the agencies concerned to go after them and bring them to justice.”
The IGP said that 10,000 additional police officers will be graduating next month, and would be added to the security architecture to enhance efficiency.
Furthermore, Baba said the police will be leading other security agencies to monitor the June 18, 2022 elections in Ekiti State and over 17, 000 police officers and men have been mobilised to maintain law and order during the election.
Meanwhile, President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr. Pogu Bitrus, has insisted that the government knows where the terrorist are but has refused to do anything about their activities.
Dr. Bitrus noted that Nigerians were no longer interested in which group, between ISWAP or Boko Haram, carried out the attack, but wanted the government to do something about arresting the ugly trend of bloodshed in the country.
“If Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi could visit their location, then, the government knows where they are. The government has intelligence more than any single individual. The fact that the government has not destroyed them means that the government is complicit in all of these,” he insisted.
For pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, the attack was an act of terrorism as well as a declaration of war against the Southwestern part of Nigeria.
“With what happened in Owo, the Yoruba are being provoked into war because they know that the land has been infiltrated and surrounded by armed militias,” it said.
National Publicity Secretary of the group, Jare Ajayi, said killings have continued across the country because the Federal Government has been treating acts of terrorism by suspected Fulani with kid glove, which runs contrary to the way and manner it had handled similar occurrences in other parts of the country in the recent past.
The organisation lamented that Nigeria is now ranked alongside countries like Ukraine and Venezuela where human lives are at a very high risk.
Also, the Yoruba self determination group, Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide said the attack has vindicated its earlier position that Fulani terrorists were behind the dastardly act.
Leader of the group, Prof Banji Akintoye, in a statement issued by his Communication Secretary, Maxwell Adeleye, in Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday, said “The declaration of the Nigerian Government that ISWAP was responsible for the Owo Massacre is a vindication of our earlier position that Yoruba Land has been encircled by Fulani foreign terrorists disguising as herdsmen.
“We, therefore, reinstate our earlier position that the government of Ondo state should declare an emergency on the activities of Fulani herdsmen in Ondo state. All Fulani herdsmen operating in Ondo should be profiled. Those in the bush must be flushed out.”
