Ekiti: Security beefed up over rumours of attack on Hausa community

Security was on Friday beefed up at the Atikankan area of Ado-Ekiti as the rumour of a planned attack on Hausa community spread.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Olayinka Balogun, deployed heavily armed policemen in about 10 patrol vans in the area while an armours personnel carrier was also stationed there.

There was panic in the town as the rumour spread that Igbo people were fighting the Hausa in the area.

It was however discovered that the fight was between two miscreants smoking Indian hemp in the area, the hotbed of crime in the state capital.

Senior security officers at the scene when our correspondent visited the area included the Officer in Charge of MOPOL, Mr. Etafe Erale and the Director of the State Security Service, Mr. Samuel Tamuno, who led the SSS operatives to the area.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Mohammed Jimoh, in a telephone interview, told our correspondent that, “The police moved into the area because of the alert that some people were fighting there.”

The Seriki Hausa in the state, Alhaji Abdulahi Adamu, in an interview with journalists said there was no attack on any Hausa man in the area.

Meanwhile, Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has expressed displeasure over the burning of tyres on major roads by the protesters against the removal of fuel subsidy.

He made this known in a statement by his Senior Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Mrs. Funmi Wakama, on Saturday after an inspection tour of some major towns in the state.

Amosun said, “This is not good at all. The state of the roads is poor already and my administration has begun its rehabilitation programme.

“If you destroy them, we will still use the taxpayers’ funds to repair them. You should therefore be peaceful, while we make efforts to end the current hardship.”

Amosun also said he was determined to award a contract for the construction of a six-lane highway, which would link the state with Lagos State through Sango – Ijoko – Oke-Aro – Agbado – Akute – Ojodu-Abiodun – Berger.