Residents Of Ibadan Estate Say Soldiers’ Stray Bullets Entering Homes, Worship Centres

Residents of Dominion Estate at Arulogun in the Akinyele Local Government Area of Ibadan, Oyo State have said they daily live in fear as a result of volley of bullets that stray into their houses anytime soldiers are undergoing shooting exercise at the 2Division Nigeria Army.

Some of the residents, who spoke with THE WHISTLER on Monday said despite the protest against shooting into their communities, bullets have not stopped hitting their buildings

They said residential buildings, churches, and mosques were not spared by bullets from the soldiers thereby making worshippers as well as residents to live in fear.

The General Overseer of The Way of Solution Apostolic Church International, Pastor Segun Jesubunmi, told our correspondent that some bullets still hit his church in Friday.

He said, ” We have been living with this problem for a long time now. We are just hoping that things will change but we are yet to see the desired change.

” I was told the army authorities erected barriers to prevent bullets from coming out anytime there is shooting exercise but we still have that problem.

” I am just planning to mend the holes created in the roof of our church by their bullets now. At times, when they damage our buildings, we would wait for weeks to be sure that they had stopped shooting before we repair the damage. If you rush to repair it, and the shooting continues the following day, the thing you repaired may be damaged again.

” My appeal is that Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde and other leaders should come to help us. I believe the army authorities will respect the governor if he complains to them on our behalf. He is our governor and I know he would not want the soldiers to kill us.”

Another resident, Alhaji Kazeem Ijeru, told our correspondent that shooting continued all through last week and houses were further damaged by the flying bullets.

He said, ” They started another round of shooting on Monday last week and bullets entered many houses. Some bullets were lodged in metal frames who some penetrated roofs and dropped in the rooms and other places.

” No life was lost but our property are being destroyed everytime the soldiers engaged in shooting exercise.

” We have been on this for some years now and vehicles were destroyed, roofs were perforated as well as walls. We expect that the state government would have come to our rescue but it seems there is no hope from that side.”

A shop owner at the area, Alhaja Muji Shittu, said the shooting had worsened the health conditions of some residents especially those having high blood pressure.

The officer in charge of Information at 2 Division Nigeria Army, Lt. Col Charles Ekeocha, did not answer calls to his phone and also did not reply messages sent to him on the matter as at the time of filing this report.