Kwara Council Boss: Cattle markets were shut to curb bandit Informants

Kwara council boss: cattle markets were shut to curb bandit informants

 

The Chairman of Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Hajji AbdulRasheed Yusuf, has explained why council authorities in Kwara South Senatorial District initially ordered the closure of cattle markets before later reopening them.

 

Yusuf spoke in Ilorin during the Newskeg programme of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), where he marked his one-year anniversary in office.

 

He said intelligence reports revealed that informants were using the markets at night to relay sensitive information to bandits.

 

“We shut the cattle markets when we discovered that informants were coming there at night to exchange information with bandits,” he said.

 

 

 

The council boss stressed that the decision was neither taken in error nor reversed due to external pressure. He said it followed diligent security investigations and consultations with relevant agencies.

 

According to him, security operatives had long questioned why Kara markets only opened after midday and continued trading until about 2 a.m.

 

“When we closed them, the practice was cut off. We later agreed to reopen them but under strict monitoring. Now, activities are restricted to between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily,” he added.

 

Yusuf, however, lamented the rising trend of informants in Ifelodun, saying “virtually everyone has become a suspect, and you don’t even know who to trust.”

 

He further disclosed that security reports showed that more than 98 per cent of those kidnapped in the area were Fulani, not Yoruba.