Osun govt returns recovered items to owners

The Osun State government on Thursday commenced the process of returning recovered looted items to their respective owners in the state.

Governor Gboyega Oyetola on Sunday gave the hoodlums a 72-hour ultimatum to return all the items that were taken away from private and public facilities during the October 24 invasion of facilities in the state.

The ultimatum elapsed on Wednesday.

The governor directed the looters to drop their loot in places where they could be picked by government officials in the state.

The Secretary of the Ad-hoc Committee on Recovery of Looted Items, Mr. Samson Awoyokun, who returned the looted items to their respective owners at the Government House, Osogbo, said 14 local government areas of the state were affected by the looting and vandalism.

He said the items were dropped anonymously by the looters, adding that the committee had been going round to pick them up.

He, however, said the task force was now on a house-to-house search to recover more looted items.

READ ALSO: Gov Oyetola relaxes curfew in Osun

Awoyokun said: “The committee was inaugurated on Monday and we have since been going round the state. At least 14 local government areas of the state were adversely affected by the wanton destruction and massive looting that took place on Saturday.

“We want to thank the governor for granting a 72-hour amnesty to all looters to return the looted items.

“We are working in conjunction with Amotekun, the Joint Task Force (JTF), and the police. We have been going round the nooks and crannies of the state to pick all the items that were dropped by the roadside, in front of houses and we have been able to recover quite a lot.

“The people have heard and responded to the call by the governor. They have been cooperating and dropping the looted items in their custody.

“The Amotekun and JTF are on the streets now. We have intelligence report and video coverage of the houses and the neighbourhood where government and commercial items are hidden.

“The 72-hour amnesty offer is now over and so, we are going into houses for the search operation.”

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