Residents of areas close to 2 Division
Nigeria Army at Odogbo in Ibadan have been thrown into fresh panic as soldiers
from the 2 Division Nigerian Army, Ibadan, Oyo State resumed shooting exercises
at the shooting range within Odogbo barracks.
FACTUAL NAIJA NEWS reports that residents
of the areas close to the barracks told PUNCH correspondent on Tuesday evening
that bullets have been coming from the shooting range into houses in their
areas following the resumption of shooting exercises at the barracks.
Some of the residents told our
correspondent that the shootings resumed early Monday morning and bullets had
been straying into buildings causing damage to their roofs and other property.
One of the residents, Alhaji Kazeem Ijeru,
told our correspondent that some bullets strayed from the shooting range into
his building and perforated his roof on Tuesday.
He said, “Soldiers have started shooting at
Odogbo Barracks again and we are living in fear now. They started around 7am on
Monday and bullets have been straying into houses on our street.
“Fresh damage was done to my roof by some
bullets today. How long are we supposed to be saying the same thing, the same
complaint for many years and nobody is doing anything about our plight.
“Each time they organise their shooting
exercise, they cause us to fear and destroy our property. Are we the terrorists
or bandits they are training to face? It is not fear.”
Another resident, Taye Omolaja, said he had
been planning to sell his house without serious buyers because of the shooting
problem.
“They stopped after the reports in the
media about three weeks ago but they started another round of shooting on
Monday. The shooting continued on Tuesday and we don’t know how long we will
live in fear this time around,” he said.
“The state government is also pretending
not to be aware of our plight. Maybe they are waiting for a huge number of
people to be killed before they would come for a condolence visit. God won’t
hand over our lives to them. They don’t see us as people whose lives count and
that is unfortunate.”