25th November, 2011
Fear has gripped residents of Ilorin over the spate of attacks by suspected ritualists.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the residents now go indoors before 8 p.m to save themselves from suspected ritualists, who attack and machete their victims to death.
Meanwhile most commercial spots such as restaurants and drinking joints in the state capital have been deserted.
Many people have already fallen victim to the ritualists.
On Tuesday, a 23 year-old nurse, Rafat Abdulrahim, was killed at Adewole area by the unidentified assailants.
Abdulrahim, who worked with Adewole Maternity Clinic, was preparing for her wedding before the incident.
The police have started to arrest motorcyclists who operated beyond 9 p.m., saying that the assailants used motorcycles to operate in the night.
Reacting on the killings, a resident Sulaiman Asekunlowo, called on government to find solution to the problem, saying: “nobody can move confidently at night.“
Asekunlowo told NAN that the spate of the attacks were worrisome and should be “a thing of great concern for all the stakeholders.“
In her reaction, another resident Mrs. Bilikis Saheed, said that the attacks and killings were affecting the economy of the town.
Saheed appealed to government to arrest the situation and bring the perpetrators to book, saying: “I have a belief that government can do it. “
The Commissioner of Police in Kwara, Mr. Peter Gana, said at a briefing that motorcyclists operating at night might be banned in the state, if the strange attacks on pedestrians continued.
Mr. Dabo Ezekiel, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state on Thursday, confirmed the situation in the capital.
Ezekiel assured the residents that police would do everything to control the situation.
“We are working on it and all hands are on deck to address the state of insecurity, “ the police spokesman, said.
On the arrest of motorcyclists, Ezekiel said that the state of things determined how the police operated.
He explained that it was a state Edict that ordered motorcyclists to operate between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. daily.