Oyo needs security summit, says Akande

Our Reporter

 

MIFFED by the spate of kidnapping and gang wars in Oyo State, the chairman of Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Prof. Adeolu Akande has appealed to Governor Seyi Makinde to convene a stakeholders’ meeting to address insecurity.

Urging Makinde, who is on holiday in Houston Texas, United States to return to the country immediately, Akande, who is the Director of the Centre for Presidential Studies, Igbinedion University, Okada, appealed to indigenes, irrespective of their political leanings, to identify with the governor at this critical time.

The former Chairman of the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) said kidnapping, armed robbery, gang war, thuggery and other social vices which had become alien to the state since 2011 are now the order of the day.

He said: “I am disturbed by the events of the past few weeks  in Oyo State. While Ibarapaland, which used to be very peaceful, has become a haven for kidnappers to operate and assassins to kill, gang wars have not been abated in Ibadan and Oyo. In Okeogun and Ogbomoso, the stories are not different. It is now one day, many crimes.

“Like I said in my Christmas message to the people of our dear state, insecurity has assumed an alarming rate. It is neither time to blame anybody or fold our arms because of our political leanings and watch things degenerate. There is no doubt that Governor Seyi Makinde needs help and we have got to support him with whatever we have.

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“In the present situation we have found ourselves, nothing can thrive and the state, especially its residents are bound to be at the receiving end. When there is insecurity, job owners flee and this will lead to job loss and dwindling IGR. This will lead to more insecurity as many jobless individuals may consider kidnapping and other vices lucrative to survive.

“Governor Makinde has purchased vehicles and distributed to various security outfits across the state. It is beyond that. They need equipment, they need motivation from both government and the governed, they need training and retraining and more. It is sad that despite the fact that our governor has more than five former police commissioners as advisers, insecurity is rearing its ugly head. I am sure Governor Makinde has not made good use of our friend and former Lagos police commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, a super cop who led the flushing of the dreaded Badoo boys in Lagos.

AKande added: “To those of us in the opposition, it is time we dropped our political toga and offer advice to the incumbent administration. Let’s deploy our network of connection to assist the administration as we don’t have any other place to call our state other than Oyo State. Governor Seyi Makinde should, as a matter of fact, be receptive to advice and assistance. Anything that is done to tame this insecurity will be to his credit. Nobody is competing with him as it is not yet election time.

“Governor Seyi Makinde should cut short his vacation to the United States and return home. It is high time we convened a security meeting involving representatives of all of us- farmers, youths, students, community leaders, security agencies, political parties, business owners, monarchs and others. Some of us would be willing to offer advise and strategies and as well deploy our network so as to return our state to what it used to be.

“Government should also be committed to creating gainful employment and conducive environment for job creators to operate. By creating jobs, insecurity would be tamed. Unemployment is one of the reasons insecurity has not reduced.”