The Kwara State Police Command has arrested an Osogbo-based transporter, Ganiyu Oyeyemi Ogunjobi, aka Fadeyi Oloro, over the gruesome murder of an Offa hotelier, Alhaji Bukola Lawal Tuesday last week, during the recent communal disturbances in Offa and Erin-Ile towns.

Alhaji Lawal, of the popular Central Hotel in Offa, was killed and hacked to pieces by armed men who invaded his hotel and also inflicted injuries on one of his workers.

A 13-man team of the police from Ilorin however arrested Ogunjobi on Monday in Osogbo after the member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in the Osun State capital was identified as leading the armed men that killed Lawal.

According to a source yesterday in Ilorin, the Police team arrested the suspect at his hideout in Osogbo.

The source told The Herald that the suspect led a mercenary gang that fought on the side of one of the communities in the crisis last week which claimed lives and properties worth millions of naira.

When the State Police Public Relation Officer, Mr. Olufemi Fabode, was contacted on the latest development, he confirmed that arrests had been made but could not ascertain the identities of those arrested as he was not on sit.

"I don’t know who and who were arrested, but I know that three persons were arrested yesterday (that is Monday) in respect of the recent communal clash between Offa and Erin-Ile communities, the PPRO said.

Meanwhile, the Kwara state police command has commenced investigation into the sources of arms and ammunition recovered from suspects during the recent communal clash between Offa and Erin-Ile towns.

Mr. Fabode disclosed this during an exclusive interview with The Herald in his office on Monday.

The PPRO said: "Investigation will reveal to us the sources of the weapons and allow the police check the flow of dangerous weapons into the state".

He added that guns and machetes were recovered from the homes of some of the suspects during police search.

The police image maker also said police investigation would also expose key players in the communal clash.

He said nine suspects were arrested during the clash and would be charged to court as soon as the police completed investigations.

He emphasised that the Dusk to Dawn curfew imposed by the state government on the two towns was still in place.

He said the curfew would only be lifted when the government is satisfied that peace has returned to the two towns and the people ready to embrace peace.

Fabode urged the people of the two communities to bury the hatchets and allow peace to reign in the areas.