Kwara State governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has called for increased security deployment to rout criminals involved in attacks on the state.
This came as the Nigerian Army headquarters directed the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2 Division in Ibadan, Oyo State to immediately relocate to Kwara to coordinate and boost military response to the attacks.
In a statement after the attack on the positions of the forest guards and the surrounding areas of Oke-Ode in Ifelodun local government area, the governor said Kwara requires more military deployments to check the activities of the criminals in parts of Kwara South and Kwara North.
He regretted the loss of innocent civilians and the forest guards who mounted a spirited resistance to the assailants in the early morning incident on grounds of patriotism and love for their communities.
“My heartfelt condolences go to the families. No word can adequately capture the depth of my sadness and nothing can compensate the bereaved families for these incidents, despite our efforts and the investments in enlisting and training the forest guards to bolster the conventional forces. Our people are understandably concerned about the situation and I wholeheartedly share in this grief,” the governor said in the statement signed by his chief press secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye.
“While we appreciate the efforts and unquantifiable sacrifices of the security forces and the successes so far, we definitely need to do a lot more until we are completely out of the woods.
“Finally, I urge our brave residents to remain calm and avoid the temptation to turn on ourselves. I equally commend all the forest guards and the local hunters who, though they lost five of their compatriots, equally neutralised several of the attackers.
We will forever be grateful to all of them as our heroes,” the governor added.
