Hoodlums take over abandoned school, terrorise residents

The school

Femi Makinde, Osogbo

The residents of Igbaye community in the Ilesa North East Local Council Development Area of Osun State have lamented constant attacks from hoodlums, who have taken over the premises of the Apostolic Primary School in the community.

Our correspondent, who visited the abandoned school on Tuesday, observed that the school buildings which had been overtaken by weeds were also inhabited by some suspected criminals.

The Lugbaye of Igbaye, Chief Abiodun Ajenifuja; Secretary of the community, Kayode Faturoti; Chief Adedeji Makinde, and a retired civil servant, Mr. Simeon Aluko, took our correspondent round the school.

They claimed that it had been abandoned since 2013, adding that apart from robbery, the hoodlums smoked hemp and raped women irrespective of their age inside the school.

A retired Bishop of Anglican Communion, Iloro, Ilesa, Abraham Awosan; the women leader of the community, Chief Florence Folorunso, and Chief Ayodeji Wesiledoye, also called on the Osun State Government and security agencies in the state to come to the aid of the community.

The retired bishop said the community was under siege, adding that his apartment was once broken into by the hoodlums, while a vehicle belonging to one of his tenants was stolen.

The leaders of the community said apart from the incessant attacks by the hoodlums, the community was also facing flooding issue from the Akoloso/Orunoga River, adding that none of the roads in community was tarred.

The head of the community, Ajenifuja, said, “The Apostolic Primary School in our community, whose pupils were merged with another school, has become a hideout for robbers and hemp smokers. Women, irrespective of their age, are frequently raped in the school.

“We have written to the ministry of education to convert the abandoned school into another use, but no response. We are living under constant fear of attack from the hoodlums living there.”

He said if the abandoned school was put into another use, the hoodlums would be forced to vacate the place, adding that the police should put the school under surveillance.

On his part, Aluko said, “The maternity centre in our community is just an empty building. The mattresses there are old and the windows have no mosquito nets. There is no single toilet or bathroom there.”

He also said a borehole handed over to the community by a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Gbenga Olugbogi, had stopped functioning, adding that the residents were not enjoying anything  from the government.

The response of the government was still being awaited as of press time, as Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s media aide, Semiu Okanlawon, had yet to reply to a text message sent to his mobile phone. Calls earlier made to his phone on Tuesday had rang out.