The state’s security situation has deteriorated in certain areas, according to Kale Kawu, the governorship candidate of the major opposition party in Kwara State.
Oba Salman Olatunji Aweda, a monarch in the Olayinka village in the Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state, died while in captivity of bandits. In response to this news, Kawu voiced his concern, saying that the community now lives in terror.
Wednesday, Kawu made a statement in Ilorin in which he expressed growing anxiety about the spate of attacks on innocent people, traditional rulers, and community leaders in the state.
He urged the current All Progressives Congress administration to step up security measures in the state, as the party’s nominee for the general election in 2027.
He expressed his deepest condolences for the monarch’s untimely demise at the hands of suspected criminals and said that the development highlights the terrifying level of insecurity that many communities statewide are facing.
His deepest sympathies go out to the monarch’s loved ones, the Olayinka people, and everyone else touched by this terrible loss.
The revered traditional ruler was reportedly abducted by criminals and held captive for weeks; community members reportedly banded together and paid a ransom of approximately N21 million (among other demands) before the abductors released him, but he did not return alive, he said.