Why govt must summon key stakeholders
By Stephen Gbadamosi
Since the re-arrest of fleeing Sunday Shodipe, a suspected serial ritual killer, by the police on 23 August, lull seems to have been the word over repeated reports of smashing of skulls of innocent residents of Akinyele Local Government Area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
But the celebrated Ibadan serial killings were not the only vestiges of insecurity in the state. Only on Sunday, another man was said to have raped a lady to death in the same local government.
The state police command has said the new case was unconnected with ritual killing. The traditional ruler of the community, Chief James Odeniran, also said it was merely a rape case that went awry and the suspect had been arrested.
Though security of lives and properties is one of the acclaimed cardinal aims of the current government in the state under Engineer Oluseyi Makinde, the only area the government seems to have recorded victory is in the management of motorists and their touts who, for many years, have been visiting mayhem on the people of the state under the guise of transportation unionism; as well as the purchase logistics materials for security operatives.
At least these are what most residents of the state have attested to.
However, apart from the serial killing which the re-arrest of Shodipe and his cohorts also appears to have put a stop to, the state had been groaning under various other shades of crimes and criminality, particularly in the agrarian areas of Oke-Ogun and other towns in the state that share boundaries with other West African countries.
Recently, when the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Joe Nwachukwu Enwonwu, paraded Shodipe alongside 32 other suspected hardened criminals, it was one tale of harvest of crimes of different hue.
Other paraded suspects included many nabbed over cases of armed robbery (at least three of such in different parts of the state), multiple kidnappings and murder as well as a plethora of rape and defilement.
Enwonwu said “all police tactical teams, including the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Anti-Kidnapping Squad (AKS), Swift Response Squad (SRS), federal and safer highway patrol teams, Skynet Squad and Eagle Patrol, etc. have been working assiduously to keep criminalities in the state to the barest minimum.”
But are the people of the state really assured with the seeming efforts of the police?
Of particular interest is the case of the Okeho robbery incident at the First Bank Branch of Kajola Local Government Area of the state on 29 July.
A resident, Aduni Afusat, who spoke to The Daily Times correspondent, said the people of the town had vowed to take their destinies in their hands.
Speaking in Yoruba, she said: “It was the efforts of our local vigilante that paid off for the police.
They did not show up until the next day. On the day of the robbery, the robbers even killed a policeman on duty, while the Divisional Police Headquarters was helpless.
They were also attacked. How can one entrust care to them?” Some other residents of Oke-Ogun area have also raised concerns over the ability of residents, largely farmers, to go to farmlands with peace of mind.
There have been many complaints of herders/farmers clashes in which people were reportedly killed maimed or raped.
Perhaps, this was the reason the state government also promptly, shortly after the parade of criminals at the police headquarters, came out to respond to the claim by the Federal Government that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) would be in control of the local security network, Amotekun, when it finally becomes operational.
Already, a lot of citizens have become skeptical about the local security network. At least, the euphoria that greeted its conception and inauguration appears to have evaporated with perceived lackluster progress on the project.
The state government had said through the Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Taiwo Adisa,last week that: “We want our people to sleep with their two eyes closed.
Of course, security is one of the pillars of this administration and we must do everything possible to invest in the security of lives and property.
In Okeho the other day, armed robbers went to rob and the community rose against them and apprehended them.
They combed the forests and they got them. “This is why I will continue to say it and I am saying it for the whole world to hear; Amotekun is here to stay with us. And it will not be under the control of the federal establishment.
It will be under our control. Security of our people is extremely important, because nothing can take place, as far as we are concerned, in an atmosphere of insecurity,” he said.
The governor also impressed it on local government chairmen and chairmen of the committees of Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) that “Oyo State is very large; in terms of land size, we are more than all the states of SouthEast Nigeria put together.
So, we have a lot to do to protect the state. We have international borders, so there is smuggling taking place.
They killed a Customs Official in Saki a few weeks ago; those things are not acceptable to us. “As the government that is the closest to the people, you have to take control of the challenges of insecurity in your various domains and you should please, once those committees are set up, any enabler that you need, let us know.
We will work with the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, to make sure those enablers are provided.” As things stand now, it appears to be a triumvirate matter.
The police force is beating its chest that it is doing the very best to protect the people.
The government says it is not leaving any stone unturned over the matter. But the question is: Has the confidence of the people been restored?
The insecurity fear was also heightened recently when the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Chief Gani Adams, raised the alarm that members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham, a global terrorist group, has station about 500 men in Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State in readiness for attack on the South-West.
He said they were in the thick forest of Lusada, an Ogun State community sharing boundary with the state.
Adams, in a communiqué issued after as meeting with his chiefs last week, alleged that: “The Ààr Ona Kakanfo-in-Council has in its possession credible intelligence, gathered from within and outside the country which strongly indicates the infiltration of terrorists and killer Fulani herdsmen in the region.
More worrisome is that the intelligence report also reveals that suspected ISIS operatives have already positioned themselves in Niger State via Ìbàrùbáland and are now within the Òkè-Ogùn corridor of Oyo State.
“Indeed, the Intel also reveals that about 500 power bikes and assorted armour belonging to the terrorists have been physically sighted along the abandoned Lusada route moving towards Sokoto, from Igbó-Orà in Oyo State.
“The council, therefore, enjoin all South-West governors, as well as governors of Kwara and Kogi states to emulate the governor of Benue State, Mr Samuel Ortom, by directing their citizens to apply for gun licence for self-defence against the marauding terrorists and killer herdsmen.”
The sign that the prevailing security situation in Oyo State heightened the fear of the people further crystalised when a revered traditional ruler, the Aseyin of Iseyin, chairman, OkeOgun Council of Obas, Oba (Dr) Abdul-Ganiy Salaudeen Adekunle Oloogunebi, replied Adams over the infiltration claim, calling him and others to give the intelligence report at their disposal to security personnel in the state to help nip any terrorist act in the bud.
In a statement sent to journalists last week, the traditional ruler said “as good as the Intel from the Aare Ona Kakanfo was and timely, there was still need for him to feed the appropriate security agencies with the needed information so as to dig into the mission of the suspects and possibly make arrests.
“The Oke-Ogun Council of Obas met on Tuesday, 25 August, to discuss issues affecting our region and individual communities, but the issue of suspected terrorists was not mentioned by any member till the end of the meeting.
“I read in the news the next morning that the Aare Ona Kakanfo claimed that suspected terrorists had infiltrated our region and my first thought was that he could have called me. He has my number.
We could have presented the case before the meeting and get more facts and if possible contact our governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, on the ways forward.
“I appreciate Chief Gani Adams’ boldness and struggle to preserve the safety of our people, being the essence of his chieftaincy title, but I want him to please carry the security agencies along so that we can nip this problem in the bud.
“Our military, police and paramilitary personnel have shown gallantry in the fight against terrorism. All we need to do to win this war is to give them support and provide information to prevent possible attack,” he said.
A security study expert, Director of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Ibadan, Professor Tajudeen Akanji, said though the security situation in the state was not peculiar, there are things that could be done to salvage the situation. “It is all over the country.
Factors like the increasing population, coupled with lack of unemployment among the teeming youths created the problem of Yahoo Yahoo Boys.
Those that can’t make it through that avenue are prone to take to armed robbery, kidnapping and so on.
“Those who are doing kidnapping in those other parts of the country would also come down here as they think the ‘business’ will boom here where it had not been so known.
“Besides, Nigeria is not growing businesses to provide employment. Those are what would provide support for regional and federal security arrangements.
“You need the above and technological innovations to tackle insecurity anywhere. After improvement in security technology, you must reduce the root causes of criminality by creating jobs and taking the rising youth population out of the streets.
“The local governments also have to be engaged. Security should involve everybody, from the traditional rulers, youth groups etc to all the people in the grassroots,” he said.
Speaking on the Amotekun issue, Professor Akanji said the Federal Government’s proposed community police was a rehash of the SouthWest initiative, adding it ought to be known that no policing system could succeed without information gathering and information would normally emanate from people in the community.
“You cannot take a policeman to a community where he did not originate or know the people intimately and expect him to have detailed information about the community,” he opined.
As things stand, it appears that the way forward seems to be for the state government to, once again, summon critical stakeholders to a meeting over the perceived security uncertainty.
This time around, it is advisable that true intention and pragmatism come to play at such a meeting, if the lives of the ordinary folks are important to the leaders.
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