Date: 2012-02-13

The scene looked like a typical Boko Haram attack. Those who know the St. Peter's Anglican Cathedral Church, Iloffa, Kwara State, would hardly recognise it. Bedlam was the name inside the church. Shattered windows lay everywhere. The pulpit was gone and bonfires stared the sad congregation, who came to see things for themselves, in the face. 

It was no different outside the church. The vicar's car was in flames. The dead were not even spared and allowed to rest in peace as tombs of servants of God (church chieftains and priests) who had served in the vineyard of the Lord were ripped open and set on fire.

Yet Boko Haram elements did not visit the church. The hoodlums were suspected to have come from a neighbouring community when they wreaked monumental havoc on the church on December 16, 2011. 
The church and, by extension, the entire Iloffa community was already in a celebration mood as they prepared for the burial of an illustrious son, Chief Nathaniel. O Ogunbiyi, Asiwaju of Iloffa, who also doubled as the Baba Ijo of the church. The community was also preparing for the approaching Christmas celebrations and nobody had inkling of the destruction that was going to be visited on the church. 

Investigations revealed that the wanton destruction was linked to the disputed land on which the church was built but the immediate cause was the burial of the late Chief Ogunbiyi. While preparations were in top gear to prepare for a befitting final resting place for the deceased in front of the church in line with the tradition of the Anglican Church, the suspected hoodlums were perfecting the plans to unleash mayhem. On two occasions when the grave diggers had done their job, the grave was sandfilled by the suspected hoodlums. On one of such occasions, the thugs even came armed with guns and dangerous weapons, shooting sporadically into the air.

The reporter learnt that the Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Mudasiru Adewale, a Deputy Superintendent of Police was contacted but he allegedly refused to act until the suspected hoodlums, who refused all entreaties by the Bishop of Ekiti Kwara, Rt. Rev Andrew Olusola Ajayi, struck again. The incident forced Venerable E.O Sunday and Rev. Kehinde Akinmade to flee the vicarage with their families after a hail of bullets landed on the roofs. 

Checks indicated that the area command, worried about the dangerous dimension the matter was taking, and after ascertaining that the land in question, by right, belongs to the church, referred the warring parties to Bishop Ajayi. In the two meetings convened by the Bishop, the matter defied all solutions and the traditional ruler of Iloffa community, Alofa of Iloffa, HRH Oba Samuel Niyi Dada, had to seek the intervention of the Kwara State deputy governor. It was from the meeting that it was concluded that since the land dispute between the two communities had not been resolved, the monarch should write a letter to the local government chairman for permission to use the place for the burial.

In a letter to the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abudulfatah Ahmed, Oba Dada shed light on the process that the community went through to avoid the present crisis caused by the suspected hoodlums. The letter partly reads: "The Local Government Chairman, Hon. George Obaoye, approved my application vide a letter dated 15/12/ 2011 with copies to the Olota of Odo-Owa and the Bishop of Ekiti Kwara Anglican Diocese. Furthermore, the local government chairman summoned representatives of the two communities to a meeting on 16/12/ 2011 to convey government decision on the matter to us. 

Present at the meeting were the representatives of the Bishop, the Vice- Chairman, Hon. Bayo Oni, the DPO, the SSS, the Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Hon. Kayode Towoju and all the councillors, representing each ward of the local government. After the meeting where the approval for the burial was announced, the local government chairman, his vice, the commissioner and security agencies went enmasse to the palace of Olota to intimate him on the development."

Thinking that the issue had been resolved, the people of Iloffa went to the graveside to continue their work. They were mistaken as the suspected hoodlums descended on the church and carried out wanton destruction, never witnessed in the history of the Anglican Church in Nigeria. The suspected hoodlums, after the destruction of everything in sight, attempted to set the church ablaze, but it refused to burn. In frustration, they allegedly carted away huge sums of money, belonging to the priests before proceeding to some shops in the area where goods were looted and things they could not take were destroyed, including animals.

It is over a month now that the incident has happened and yet nobody has been punished for the desecration of the place of worship. The burial of Chief Ogunbiyi had to be moved to another Anglican Church in the community. For the first time in history, the people could not gather in the cathedral church to celebrate the New Year. The community's town hall now serves as the place of worship every Sunday. The Oba of Iloffa, irked by the seeming impunity with which the suspected hoodlums conducted themselves, wrote a letter of protest to the state governor, demanding for justice in what his people insist is utter provocation. The Kwara State Government has assured that it would ensure that all the culprits were brought to book. 

Police sources said they were investigating the matter and even confirmed the arrest of some of the suspected hoodlums. But the people of Iloffa are not impressed. According to them the tension between the two communities has reached its highest point. The two communities can be said to be sitting on a keg of gunpowder about to explode. Oba Dada insists that the massive destruction and looting of property by the suspected hoodlums cannot be glossed over. He wants a full restitution for the damages carried out and the release of the report on the boundary dispute between the two communities to forestall a recurrence.