Two persons were killed, while three others were hospitalised after suspected hoodlums attacked Iyemero-Ekiti, in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti.
The attack came barely a week after the traditional ruler of the town, Oba Agboola Ogungbemi, had raised an alarm of an impending attack on his community.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the attack occurred in the early hours of Monday.
Some residents were also displaced by the assailants who were said to have invaded Eda, a farmstead in the community.
A source in the community identified one of the dead as Danjuma Ali, a farmer, while the identity of the second deceased remained unknown.
Those injured were, however, taken to the emergency section of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti.
While two of the injured persons were identified as Mrs Jennifer Akoko and Mr Joseph Achebe, the third was simply identified as Kayode.
The source said the assailants shot those at the farmstead in what had become recurrent killings.
“They came around 1. am and were there till dawn. Our farmers are all afraid to go to their farmsteads now, we are indeed in trouble.
“They all rushed to the palace of Oba Kagboola Ogungbemi, the Olu of Iyemero Ekiti, to take refuge
“We are mourning today at Iyemero, we are not happy about this incident and the government must do something about it,’’ the source said.
Ogungbemi confirmed the incident, adding that he had been calling for the establishment of a police station in the community to curb criminal activities.
The monarch, who spoke through the palace spokesman, Chief Ariyo Abejide, said there was urgent need for the teeming population of farmers in the farmstead to be protected by the security agencies.
“These hoodlums stormed the community through the border of Iyemero at Eruku in Kwara.
”Iyemero is porous and this portends danger to the communities in Ikole Local Government and the state in general,’’ he said Ogungbemi, however, urged the residents to be peaceful while awaiting government’s prompt intervention.
But reacting to the development, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Caleb Ikechukwu, said he had not been fully briefed on the incident.
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