Chairmen of different landlord associations from Ajobo, Omilabu, Alenlerin, Oluseyi Avenue, Dominion, Idi Omo and Bola town in Akinyele Local Government area of Ibadan have raised the alarm over stray bullets from the Army shooting range at 2 Div. Nigerian Army, Odogbo, Ibadan.
According to the landlords, for fear of being victims of stray bullets, several residents of the affected areas have been forced to abandon their houses.
Speaking with Vanguard, Prince Adeleye Amoo from OmilabuIjeru, AbdulRauf Iyanda from Victory Estate, Idowu Akintunde from Dominion Estate, Adekunle Taiwo from Harmony Quarters and Faniyi Kola from Oluseyi Avenue recounted how the stray bullets from the Army barracks had injured residents and endangered their lives on different occasions.
They claimed that since 2017 when the shooting range was brought back to Odogbo cantonment, they have been living in palpable fears and all pleas to the army authorities fell on deaf ears.
Faniyi said, “I was in the bedroom with my children when a bullet pierced through the window and entered my room. I had to tell the children to lie face down to avoid being hit by bullets. The bullets destroyed my Storex water tank”.
“The shooting range which is a yearly routine has been a serious threat to our lives. We have over 1,000 residential buildings outside the fence of the barracks. We don’t sleep with our eyes closed”.
AbdulRauf gave his own ordeal noting ” I was in the living room when a bullet pierced the roof of my house and dropped inside. When they started on Monday this week, I was in the mosque doing ablution. A bullet whistled over my head and hit the wall.”
Displaying the bullets wrapped in a small piece of cloth, they claimed they picked them from their compounds.
When their cries reached the peak, the Army, stopped using the shooting range in 2009 but resumed again in 2017.
The residents observed that the constant change of the General Officer Commanding has not been helpful because any agreement reached with the Army authorities changes immediately they transfer the GOC.
Pleading with President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to prevail on the army authorities to relocate their shooting range from the densely populated areas to a far away forest, they noted that they had done all things humanly possible to make the army authorities move to another place.
Amoo said, “We have pleaded with the army to consider our plights. At a time, we suggested to them to use bullets that are not life-threatening or use underground as their shooting range. They promised to look into our suggestions but nothing has been done”.
“They have started again this year and it is going to last two weeks. We have told our senators but nothing appears to have been done.”
Mrs Adeyemi Folashade also pleaded with relevant stakeholders to help stop the unnecessary risk of life of the residents of the areas.
Credit: vanguardngr.com
