I Fainted Many Times When OPC Arrested Me- Iskilu Wakili, Fulani Warlord

The dreaded Fulani warlord in Ibarapa area of Oyo State, Iskilu Wakili, has recounted how men of the Odua People’s Congress and other vigilantes stormed his house and captured him on Sunday morning.

There was jubilation in Ibarapaland on Sunday as members of the OPC arrested him at his house at Kajola village in Ibarapa North Local Government Area of the state.

Wakili said he was told by some of his woke that armed OPC members had invaded his territory but he could not run because he was ill.

Speaking with some journalists at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Ibadan on Monday, Wakili who has been accused of being behind killings, kidnappings, rape and other crimes said he is not a criminal.

Wakili’s hut

He said anybody who had evidence against him should come out to confront him with such evidence.

Wakili who the police said was taken to hospital immediately he was handed over to the police by the OPC men said he went to Iparaku in Benin Republic on March 1 to treat an ailment and he came back to his base five days after.

He said, ” Two days after my return from the hospital, I was lying down because I was ill and suddenly some women came and started shouting that armed OPC men had come looking for me.

” I asked them to flee but I could not run because I was sick. Two men later came and picked me from where I was lying down, they threw me in their vehicle naked. I fainted many times before they drove me to the police station in Igboora. From there I was taken to SCID, Ibadan.

” I am not a criminal, my children are not criminals. I don’t know anything about kidnapping or any crime. I have many cows and I know they stray into farms at times but I don’t have criminal records anywhere and this can be investigated. After they took me away from my home, a woman, Tande, was killed.

“Sometimes last year, two of my children were kidnapped and I paid millions of naira as ransom before they were released. I ma not a kidnapper.”

The Commissioner of Police, Mrs Ngozi Onadeko, has said that the police did not take sides with anybody but would carry out a thorough investigation into the case and anybody found culpable would be prosecuted.

She said, ” During the unfortunate incident at Shasha, seven suspects were handed over to the police by the Nigerian Army. The seven suspects, after investigation, were charged to court. That is just the short story about the Shasha incident. The police carried out their own investigation and they were charged to court.

“I keep telling you to stop giving ethnic colouration to crime. The question is this, was there any crime committed? It is not a question of whether they were Yoruba and Ibos.

“At about 9am yesterday (Sunday) morning, the Area Commander and Divisional Police Officer, Ayete, called to inform us that three persons attacked a Fulani community and one Wakili was arrested and taken to Igbo Ora Division. I directed the DPO and Area Commander to find out why they brought the three people to the state CID, it was during interrogation that we discovered that the three people who were arrested with other three are OPC members.

“They had been trying to arrest Wakili. They said they arrested Wakili and two others. But the issue is that as the OPC people left, they set the camp on fire and shot a woman on her stomach. Her intestine gushed out and the woman died, That was basically what happened yesterday (Sunday).

“My appeal is that we should all come together to fight crime. Give us credible information. Anybody who has complaint against Wakili, this is the best time to lodge complaints so that he can be investigated. Wakili is in the custody.”

The CP said the police would not allow any act of lawlessness anywhere in the state but promised to do everything to rid the state of criminals.