Police condemn mob violence, launch manhunt after deadly Kwara clashes

Abdullateef Fowewe

The Kwara State Police Command has condemned the gruesome acts of mob violence, arson, and extra-judicial killings that erupted in Ilesha Baruba, Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara State on Sunday.

According to a statement obtained from Kwara Police Command on Monday, investigations found a violent altercation between an unidentified Fulani man and Islamic scholar Alhaji Mohammed Ilyasu, during which “both parties sustained severe machete injuries.”

Both were rushed to hospital, where Ilyasu was “confirmed dead on arrival,” while the assailant also “succumbed to his injuries while receiving treatment.”

Instead of allowing due process to take place, some youths allegedly stormed the hospital, seized the corpse of the deceased assailant, and “set it ablaze.”

The mob then reportedly attacked another passerby and “set him on fire,” and went on to raze about ten buildings belonging to members of the Fulani community, including the residence of the Ardo Fulani, Alhaji Hassan.

A combined team of police and military personnel was deployed and “successfully restored normalcy and prevented further escalation of violence,” the statement said.

Security has been reinforced and the situation remains under close monitoring.

Kwara Commissioner of Police CP Ojo Adekimi described the incidents as “criminal, barbaric, and a direct affront to the rule of law,” stressing that “no individual or group has the right to take the law into their own hands irrespective of the circumstances surrounding any incident.”

The Command has launched a full-scale investigation and a manhunt “for all persons involved in the retaliatory attacks, arson, and unlawful killings.”

Perpetrators, the release added, “will be identified, apprehended, and made to face the full weight of the law.”

Residents were urged by the police to remain “calm, peaceful, and law-abiding” and to avoid actions that could “disrupt public peace or incite ethnic reprisals.”

The Command reassured all communities of its “commitment to protecting lives and property without bias and ensuring that justice is served.”