Offa-Erin-Ile Crisis- Ahmed Warns Troublemakers to Stay Away from Kwara

Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, Wednesday warned troublemakers perpetrating violence to stay away from the state or face the full wrath of law regardless of their status.
Ahmed disclosed this in Ilorin Wednesday while swearing-in the 10-man judicial commission of inquiry headed by Justice Adeyinka Sikiru Oyinloye set up to look into the recent Offa and Erin-Ile communal crisis.
According to him, “The barbaric destruction of lives and property during the latest crisis is alien to our way of life and offends our honour as a people.”
He said that, “never again will this kind of carnage be allowed to happen in any part of the state.
“No more will our people live in fear because of a few selfish elements are bent on violence and we will not tolerate unlawful border disputes that result in violence and impair the welfare of our people,” he added.
Ahmed stressed that,”Those trying to turn our communities into theatres of violence will fail.”
The governor stated further that, “Although the situation in Offa and Erin-Ile has been brought under control by the security agencies, government is determined to find lasting solutions to the age-long dispute and devise measures to ensure the tragic events do not recur again.”
He noted that, “It is in pursuit of these and other objectives that I have set-up a 10-member judicial commission of Enquiry into crises.
He urged the commission to determine the immediate and remote causes of the crisis, the extent of damage to property,  the number of lives lost, the culprits,  review the previous reports of committees/commissions on the  crisis and make  appropriate recommendations.
The commission however has six weeks to submit its report to the government.
Meanwhile, the Offa local government council chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has flayed the recent comment credited to the National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji  Lai Mohammed, on the dissolution of Offa and Oyun councils by the state government.
The PDP described Mohammed’s comments not only as “uncalled for but hypocritical.”
The party insisted that there was no selective justice in the government’s decision as both the council chairmen of Offa and Oyun “who are of different political background but who could not control the major motor parks  under their jurisdiction were both affected in the case.”
The ACN National Publicity Secretary had in a statement on Monday faulted the dissolution of the councils and urged the state government to rescind its decision.
But the Offa chapter of the PDP, in a statement signed by its Chairman, Alhaji Goke Rabiu and Secretary, Alhaji Lasun Olarinoye yesterday expressed  support for the government’s action.