Some residents on Saturday stated that the military personnel were harassing innocent residents when the Fulani terrorists who carried out the attacks had fled the town.

According to SaharaReporters, soldiers of the Nigerian Army have raided Oyo town in Oyo State in a mass arrest of youths and residents in the aftermath of the attack on the Nigerian Correctional Service facility in Abolongo.

Some residents on Saturday stated that the military personnel were harassing innocent residents when the Fulani terrorists who carried out the attacks had fled the town.

“Now the Nigerian soldiers are in Oyo town are patrolling and arresting young boys at random and taking them away. This is very unsettling to the Oyo natives,” a source said.

“If these random arrests continue, the Oyo natives will start to prepare how they will defend themselves through diabolical means from the armed government personnel,” another resident stated.

SaharaReporters had earlier reported that top prison officials said that the gunmen who carried out the attack did so to free the detained notorious Fulani warlord, Iskilu Wakili and other criminal Fulani herdsmen in the facility.

Sources had told SaharaReporters that the gunmen three days before the Friday invasion struck in Ogbomoso, a neighbouring town to Oyo, and the security operatives were also fully aware of their presence in the area.

“The attack in Oyo last night from the Ogbomosho axis was a well-coordinated Fulani attack aimed at securing the release of Wakili, the terrorist whom (Sunday Adeyemo) Igboho drove away from Ibarapa. I am informed by my staff and very reliable people that he was the object of that attack last night at about 10pm,” one of the top sources had said. 

“The rest was just drama. My security staff told me the gunmen struck three days ago on the Oyo-Ogbomosho Road and around that time, their strange faces were also seen around an area the boys described to me. This was a well-coordinated attack with the objective to free Wakili and other Fulani inmates,” he added.  

SaharaReporters had earlier reported that the entrance to the prison was blown with an explosive device while security officials at the prison fled for their safety.

Speaking with SaharaReporters on phone, the spokesman of the NCS, Olanrewaju Anjorin, had said; “Yes. It has been confirmed that the attack actually happened. And right now, the Comptroller of Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) and other top officers are assessing the situation. But I can confirm to you that the incident actually happened."

On March 7, a joint team of Ibarapa security operatives, including the Oodua Peoples Congress, Vigilante, and other groups had arrested the notorious Fulani warlord terrorising Oyo communities, Wakili.  

Wakili had been arrested after several attempts resulting in a gun battle.

There had been reports that Wakili and his gang were involved in the killings and kidnapping of several people in Ibarapa, Oke Ogun, Oyo State.

Wakili was nabbed barely seven days after his second-in-command, Isiaka Muhammadu, was arrested alongside four others.

The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, had confirmed Wakili’s arrest in a statement.

Meanwhile, on June 7, no fewer than 17 persons were reportedly shot dead by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen at Igangan, in the Ibarapa North LGA.

Residents had said the hoodlums invaded the town on motorcycles around 11pm in an attack which continued until around 3am on Sunday.

They had fingered Wakili’s men on a revenge mission to be behind the attack.