Reps Urge FG To Set Up Judicial Panel of Enquiry On Oyo Ritualist Den

sokaThe House of Representative has called on the federal government to set up a judicial panel of enquiry into the operations of ritualists in Oluyole local government of Oyo State where a kidnappers’ den was recently uncovered with captives, who were set free.

This is just as the legislators also passed a resolution mandating a “high-powered delegation to visit the location and ascertain the veracity of these findings and commiserate with the affected people”.

The lawmakers described the incident as “a national tragedy and calamity of monumental proportion requiring the intervention of the government as the custodian of the duty to protect the lives and dignity of its citizens”.

The House also directed the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, to immediately deploy policemen to Soka forest where the discovery was made.

The investigation, which is to be conducted by the House Committee on Intelligence and National Security, Police Affairs and Human Rights to Investigate, is expected to submit its report in four weeks.

The probe came on the heels of the adoption of the recommendations of a motion raised by Hon Ibrahim Olaifa (PDP, Oyo), who noted that a “Kidnappers’ Den” was discovered in Soka Forest of Oluyole Local Government Area of the state.

He noted that the kidnappers’ den was said to have been uncovered about two weeks ago and bodies of human beings were said to have been found, while those alive were described as “too weak”.

“Several victims were found chained together in varying states of poor mental and physical health, within this inhabitable theatre of horror”, he narrated.

Speaking further, the lawmaker voiced concern that “human remains in different states of decomposition were found under the protection of some gatemen (now arrested), who are in the employ of the sponsors of this establishment even as he noted that the “facility was said to have been established by the Government of Oyo State for the care of mentally deranged people some years ago”.

Faulting the decision of the state government to demolish the area when investigations into the ugly discovery have not yet been concluded as demanded by the inhabitants of the area, Olaifa argued that the action would destroy most of the material evidence needed by the police for a proper investigation and called for deployment of policemen to the area.