New Telegraph

Communal clash: Offa residents protest security agents’ highhandedness

Indigenes of the Offa community in Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State yesterday took to the streets to protest the alleged overzealousness of security agents deployed in the community. The state government had in March imposed a curfew on Offa and Erin- Ile after an outbreak of a communal clash between the two communities. The Offa community has accused the security personnel of partisanship and one-sidedness in their dealings with them. The protesters started their peaceful rally from Itafa area to Avalon Hotel junction through the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, wielding different placards.

Some of the placards read: “SA security cannot re-write our history,” “Offa cannot be intimidated,” “Offa will resist security rascality,” and “Kwara government is biased against Offa,” among others. The Iyaloja General of Offa, Idiat Yusuf, told journalists that the peaceful protest was not between Offa and Erin-Ile. She said: “It is between the community members and the security personnel deployed in the area to maintain peace between the two communities. “The security personnel have abandoned where the government asked them to stay and maintain peace. They are supposed to stay between Offa and Erin-Ile boundary. They have started harassing and intimidating residents of Offa communities. “They have disrupted our commercial activities. The security men were drafted to Offa and Erin-Ile in the aftermath of another communal clash that erupted between the two neighbouring communities in March this year.

“The overzealousness of the security personnel is only being borne by Offa indigenes because the Special Adviser to Governor Abdulrahman AbdulRazaq is from Erin-Ile. It is a known fact that Offa and Erin-Ile have over the years had running battles over land issues.

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