Tension rises as gunmen kill five Modakeke farmers in Ile-Ife

The Osun State Police Command on Friday confirmed the killing of five persons by gunmen in Ile-Ife.

The Spokesperson of the command, SP Yemisi Opalola, gave the confirmation in a statement on Friday.

Opalola said the victims were on motorcycles on their way to their farm when they were ambushed and killed.

Consequently, Opalola said the Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, had deployed the police tactical team and officers to forestall breakdown of law and order in the area.

She also added that investigation had commenced on the circumstance behind the killing, assuring that perpetrators of the heinous crime would be brought to justice.

Opalola said the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, had also waded into the matter by appealing to his subjects to maintain peace as a way of preventing the situation from escalating.

The News Agency of Nigeria learnt that the farmers were ambushed and killed while passing through a town in Ile-Ife to their farm.

The killing has, however, generated tension in Ile-Ife owing to fear of a reprisal from the people of Modakeke, a neighbouring town, thus resulting in many Ile-Ife residents hurriedly closing their businesses.

NAN also reports that Ile-Ife and Modakeke communities have a long history of communal clashes, which had led to loss of many lives and destruction of property.