Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke has assured residents of the state of their safety of their lives and proprieties.

Governor Adeleke gave this assurance while commending the personnel of the Department of State Services, DSS, on the successful operation, which led to the arrest of 10 suspected members of Boko Haram/Islamic State’s West Africa Province, ISWAP, in Ilesa, Osun State.

Governor Adeleke while hailing the alertness of security operatives in eliminating the threats posed by the susterrorists, orists assured that the security agencies were up to the task of sustaining peace and security of every part of Nigeria.

The governor’s commendation is contained in a statement by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, on Saturday in Osogbo.

The Governor particularly commended the intelligence gathering of the personnel of the DSS who had painstakingly monitored the activities of the suspected criminals and moved swiftly to cut off their dastardly act.

In the statement, he said, “This is a welcome development and a big relief, not just for us as a government but to the people of the state and Nigeria in general. I commend the security operatives for their alertness and intelligence driven operation. We have absolute confidence in our security forces to keep protecting us.”

The Governor assured that his administration will continue to cooperate with security agencies and support their operations to ensure maximum protection of lives and property of Osun people, noting that this remains top of his priority.

“As the Chief Security Officer of Osun State, I will continue to give priority to issues of security of my people. I will continue to support efforts of security agencies to guard against any breakdown of law and order in any part of Osun. We will sustain the good relationship and collaboration that currently exists between our administration and the security agencies in the state.”

Governor Adeleke enjoined residents of Osun to continue to be watchful and report any suspicious activity in their neighborhoods to relevant security agency, while assuring that Osun will continue to be a peaceful state under his watch.

“I hereby call on my people to continue to live in peace and harmony and be on alert to report any suspicious activities or behavior around them to the relevant security authorities. Together, we will ensure that Osun remains the most peaceful state in Nigeria” Governor Adeleke concluded.

Newsmen gathered that the suspected ISWAP members were arrested in a DSS raid on December 16, 2024 in Ilesa, Osun State.

It was gathered that the arrested ISWAP suspects had posed as watch repairers, however, news of their arrest became public knowledge on January 10, when the DSS sought an order from a Federal High Court in Abuja to detain them for 60 days.

The suspects are Adamu Abubakar (aka Abu Aisha), Babagana Bashuli, Muhammed Adam, Mustapha Abacha, Katuru Muhammed, Babakura Abacha, Muhammed Ciroma, Ali Gambo, Muhammed Umoru, and Muhammed Bundi.

According to the DSS, the suspects were arrested while undergoing training on how to manufacture and detonate explosives, disclosing that its preliminary investigation revealed that the respondents were members of the Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorist group.

It was reliably gathered that the operation, which led to their arrest, lasted 90 days and was carried out by two different teams from the DSS headquarters.