Oyo Police Arrest One, Hunt Two Others Over Machete Attack in Eruwa Land Dispute

Police say a disagreement over a disputed farmland between Eruwa and Ayete escalated into a machete attack on a man, who was rescued by a passer-by and taken for treatment before the matter was reported.

The Oyo State Police Command has arrested one suspect and is searching for two others in connection with a machete attack on a man during a land dispute near Eruwa, the command said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the police, the victim went to a farmland located between Eruwa and Ayete, at Abule Oba-Gboru Village through Okanlawon Village, on September 11. The area, police said, is reportedly subject to an ongoing land dispute. At the farmland, the victim encountered three men — identified by police as Agboola Emmanuel, Dare Agboola and a third person known only as Monday — who were said to be engaged in charcoal production using firewood at the site.

A disagreement broke out between the victim and the three men and escalated into a physical altercation, during which the men allegedly used machetes to inflict injuries on him, police said.

The attack was not reported to police immediately. Officers said a member of the public who intervened rescued the victim and ensured he received medical attention before formally reporting the incident to the Eruwa Division on September 14, at about 4:10 p.m.

Detectives from the Eruwa Division opened an investigation following the report and visited the scene. During the course of the investigation, police arrested Agboola Emmanuel, who, according to the command, admitted his involvement during interrogation and provided information that helped detectives identify the other two men allegedly involved in the attack.

Police said they had since established the identities of the two other suspects and that detectives were intensifying efforts to arrest them.

The Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, CP Abimbola Ayodeji Olugbenga, cautioned members of the public against taking the law into their own hands in disputes over land ownership or boundaries. He said the existence of a civil or land dispute does not give any person the right to assault, threaten, intimidate or use weapons against another, and advised parties involved in such disputes to seek redress through the courts or other lawful dispute-resolution channels.

The command said a matter that begins as a civil dispute can become criminal once violence is introduced, exposing those responsible to arrest, investigation and prosecution.

It should be noted that the two suspects still being sought have not yet been arrested, and the case, including the charges the arrested suspect may eventually face, has not been tested in court. The police statement represents the command’s account of events at this stage of investigation.