From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo.
Motorists plying the Ogun River bridge along Iseyin road, Oyo are in grave danger.
This is due to the fact that the bridge may cave in anytime due to erosion which has affected the pillars.
Besides, its narrowness does not make it convenient for two vehicles to ply it on both sides of the road at the same time.
The undulating terrains of the roads from Oyo to Iseyin, Iseyin to Okeho and Okeho to Iganna have been constituting serious threats to lives and properties of the residents who are daily being terrorised by men of the underworld.
So impassable are the roads leading to border communities via Benin Republic that vistors to the agrarian areas are forced to board commercial motorcycles which are thrice the price of commercial vehicles.
It is not that commercial vehicles are not available at motor parks, but passengers will have to wait for several hours before the vehicle is fully loaded, due to undulating nature of the roads.
For instance, from Iseyin to Okeho, commercial motorcycle operators collect as much as N500 per passenger for a journey which should not cost more than N200.
There has been an upsurge on the activities of criminals in the areas and other parts of Oke-Ogun namely Igbeti, Igboho and Ogboro communities where property worth hundreds of thousand of naira were reportedly carted away, while those who could not provide the criminals’ needs were inflicted with body injuries.
Recently, men of the Vigilance Group of Nigeria (VGN) arrested three Fulani men who kidnapped a young man at Igbeti in the Olorunsogo local government area of Oyo State.
The suspects were said to have kidnapped a colleague of one Mallam Bio Oseni and demanded N2 million as ransom before he could be released.
Oseni was said to have immediately contacted men of the VGN in the area over the matter.
The VGN men swiftly swung into action which led to the arrest of the kidnap leader, Abubakar Alli, at Kara market in the town.
Other members of the gang were apprehended at Bonni area in Kwara State.
However, there was a mild drama at the office of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Igbeti, as a mysterious bird flew out of the stomach of one of the suspects.
Apparently sensing sinister motive, policemen and VGN members in the DPO’s office hurriedly locked the door and closed all the windows to prevent the bird from escape until it was killed.
Meanwhile, some traditional rulers in Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State have called on both the State Police Commissioner, Leye Oyebade, and the State Security Council to, as a matter of utmost attention, address the criminal onslaught in the area.
The paramount rulers from Ogbooro, Igboho, Igbeti and Igannna, said the situation had resulted in the relocation of residents, as the people live in trepidation for fear of
being attacked by these criminals, most of whom are youths of Fulani extraction.
In his comment, the Onisanbo of Ogbooro, Oba Adedokun Abdulsalaam Adeteru II, lamented the dastard acts of the dare-devil criminals who daily unleashed terror on defenceless residents.
He added that besides the fact that commercial activities are badly affected due to the nefarious activities of men of the underworld, which usually occurred at day light, there is anxiety among the people as to the state of security in the community.
Also, the Onjo of Okeho, Oba Rafiu Osuolale and the Sabiganna of Iganna, Oba Azeez Oyemonla, called for intensive security surveillance on the Federal Government-owned highways but which had become
death-traps and vulnerable to criminal activities.
