Date: 2016-08-26

The prime suspect in the murder of five persons in Obadare village via Share in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State acted as lone avenger, Police said in Ilorin yesterday.

The force said the suspect also went cap in hand with five others to terminate the life of the victims without involvement of the Share community.

This came against the backdrop of reported imminent inter-communal clash between Share and Tsaragi as a result of the killings.

State Police Commissioner, Mr Emmanuel Olusola Amore, who briefed journalists in Ilorin on the issue, said the suspect was neither a farmer nor Fulani man as earlier insinuated.

He said the alleged perpetrator of the gruesome murder had been arrested and charged to court. The suspect was said to have committed the act to avenge the killing of his family and destruction of their houses during the December 2015 communal clash that broke out between Share and Tsaragi communities over age long hostility.

Fielding further question from the journalists, Amore said the suspect was a resident of Share who acted to avenge the killing of his brother and destruction of family compound.

He said the suspect acted alone by inviting some of his friends to perpetrate the crime, saying they were never backed by the Share Community. "We have been able to arrest one of those people who committed that act. Himself and five others committed that act. They confessed later. And we have been able to recover all the guns they used to commit the heinous act.

"Let me clear the impression that the person arrested was not a Fulani herdsman. He is from Share community and confessed that he was wronged by the killing of his brothers and the destruction of their house in the December communal clash between Share and Tsaragi.

"He alone called his friends and went on revenge mission. They were never backed by the Share community. It did not happen when there was communal clash. "It was one single person taking the law into his hands to revenge what was done to him and his family and the community did not back him", he said.

Amore said the weapons used to perpetrate the killing had been recovered by the police. To put a permanent stop to the incessant inter-communal dispute, the police boss said the command had instituted a committee comprising 12 people from both Share and Tsaragi to meet periodically with the police to discuss emerging issues in the communities.

"Already, we have set up a committee made up of 12 people: Six from Share and six from Tsaragi. They are to meet periodically with the police to be able to continue to manage security from these communities", Amore said.

Source: HeraldNews