Date: 2021-01-17

Kwara Speaker Yakubu Danladi-Salihu has declared he is working with relevant authorities to get to the root causes of the bloody clash between operatives of Joint Border Drill and some members of Kwara community.

Violent clash allegedly occurred last Friday between some smugglers and "errant youths" and some operatives of border patrol in Baruten local government of the state, claiming three lives.

Speaker Danladi-Salihu expressed displeasure over the clash.

In a statement by his spokesperson Ibrahim Sheriff, the Speaker lamented the circumstances that reportedly led to the fracas, which left scores dead and others sustaining varying degrees of injury.

"I am sad and displeased to receive news of the ugly incident that claimed lives of young and promising members of my constituency and left scores injured in Ilesha Baruba.

"The circumstance that reportedly led to the unfortunate incident was avoidable and will be unraveled", Danladi-Salihu said.

He urged residents of Ilesha-Baruba not to take laws into their hands, admonishing them to maintain the peace that Kwara state is known for and go about their lawful businesses without fear or hindrance.

Also, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Dr Jamila Bio-Ibrahim has hailed the Governor for charging authorities concerned to investigate last last week Friday alleged killing of three residents of the state.

Dr Bio-Ibrahim, who hails from the local government said: "I am happy to see that Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has charged all necessary authority to look into the gruesome killing of our people in Ilesha-Baruba by armed soldiers who are supposed to be protecting the expressway of that area.

"It is a very unfortunate happening. I hope that the delegates put in charge by the governor will provide all true facts relating to the matter and that strong and appropriate actions/reprimands are taken against this wrong action in order to obviate this kind of mishap in the future.

"I sincerely sympathize with the families of the deceased and I want to kindly encourage continuous peace and restraint from uprisings that may lead to any kind of unrest in that area.

'May Allah forgive the dead and grant them Aljana Firdaus."