A disturbing incident unfolded on Sunday, September 17, in Okanla, Osun State, where unidentified gunmen targeted and killed Ibrahim Qudus, an individual seeking admission to a higher institution. The assailants also set a building ablaze during their early morning attack on the palace of the Olokanla of Okanla.
This violent event is rooted in a prolonged communal dispute between the Ifon and Ilobu communities, primarily driven by a land dispute. Unfortunately, this long-standing feud reached a deadly climax on that fateful Sunday.
According to LIB, Prince Jimoh Qadri, the victim’s uncle and the apparent target of the assassination, provided a chilling account of the attack. He recounted that a group of armed men, estimated to be around 20, wearing hoods, invaded his residence in Okanla in the early hours of Sunday, firing their weapons indiscriminately.
According to Qadri, “I went out this morning when my wife called me that some people numbering about 20 wearing hoods came home with guns. There was a person among them known as Kokanle who didn’t cover his face with the hood. They broke all my house windows.”
“I didn’t park my car outside so they thought I was at my family house at Olokanla compound. They came to search our family compound but I was not there.
“I got information that they met one of my younger brothers (Ibrahim Kudus) at home and he was killed with the house burnt. After killing the boy, they drag him inside a car and burn him in the car.
“Kudus was 28 years. He was looking for admission into a higher institution. He wrote the last jamb.”
Qadri issued a heartfelt appeal to both the state government and law enforcement agencies, urging them to swiftly identify and bring the perpetrators of this horrendous crime to justice.
Confirming the incident, Yemisi Opalola, the Police spokesperson for Osun Command, revealed that officers had been dispatched to the area. She stated, “Someone was burnt with a car around Okanla, the area between Ifon and Ilobu. We have deployed our men to the area to forestall further breakdown of law. Even the Commissioner of Police went there. Normalcy is returning to the place.”
This tragic event follows recent concerns raised by local residents regarding the ongoing crisis between the two feuding communities.
