Gani Adams raises alarm over high-level insecurity in S/West

THE Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Abiodun Adams, on Wednesday raised the alarm on the high-level insecurity gradually creeping into South-West states, describing it as a monster which must be fought with all powers at the region’s disposal before the situation became unbearable.

The Aare Onakakanfo raised this alarm in a statement made available to journalists in Lagos by his media aide, Mr Kehinde Aderemi, reiterating his earlier call for a South-West Security Summit to be held in one of the South-West state capitals.

The Aare, in particular expressed serious concerns on what he called “many killings and kidnap cases” that had occurred, with the latest being the murder of Mr Bunmi Ojo, a Commissioner on the Board of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) and the abduction of one Dele Fagoriola, a former chairman of Akure North Local Government in Ondo State.

The Generalissimo of Yorubaland had while making the call urged traditional rulers and other prominent sons and daughters of the race to urgently liaise with the governors in South-West states to convene a Security Summit to be held in one of the state capitals.

He added that the parley would involve, among others, traditional rulers, religious and opinion leaders, farmers, businessmen, herders and security agents in the region to address the security concern in the land.

“I wish to reiterate, once again, that the insecurity gradually creeping into Yorubaland is a monster which must be fought with all powers at our disposal,” Iba Adams said.

“Weeks after writing my first letter to all the South-West governors, prominent monarchs and stakeholders in the South-West, many killings and kidnap cases have occurred, the latest being the murder of Mr Bunmi Ojo, a Commissioner on the Board of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) and the abduction of Dele Fagoriola, former chairman of Akure North Local Government, Ondo State,” he said sadly.

According to the Aare, “Fagoriola was in his farm at Iju, Akure-Ikere Road, when six masked hoodlums stormed the place and abducted him for a ransom, saying that the kidnappers initially demanded for a sum of N10 million for his release before he was he was “set free, obviously after series of negotiations.”

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“Apparently, this is an evil that is gradually creeping into Yorubaland,” he declared.

Adams said that it possible that many other kidnap cases might have occurred within that same period but were not known or reported because of the location and low profile of victims, pointing out that these could have happened while the death of Bunmi Ojo, a former aide to former Governor Segun Oni was being investigated by the police, and Fagoriola’s ordeal was being reported.

“While the late Bunmi Ojo’s death is being investigated by the police, Fagoriola’s ordeal was reported. But possibly many other kidnap cases may have occurred within that same period but were not known because of the location and low profile of victims,” he said.

“The ‘clear and present danger’ is to behave as if this hydra-headed monster does not already constitute a serious problem,” Adams warned, saying he felt concerned and disturbed as the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, whose job was to promote peace and unity across all the Yorubaland and beyond that the matter was so serious now that some Yoruba were being abducted on the highways.

“If our people are afraid of going to their farms and travelling on the highways, then danger looms.
Due to the fact that this ‘cancer’ was not given an urgent and decisive operation when it started, it is now spreading like wildfire because the perpetrators get high financial returns with less risk, unlike armed robbery which involves a lot of risks and high uncertainty.

“We have a critical situation on our hands now in the South-West, especially in Lagos, Ogun and its environs where young, unemployed graduates, secondary school students, and artisans involve themselves in cultism, kidnapping, killing and tormenting the people.

“A good example of the cruel act is that whenever a victim escapes, the kidnappers will go for the wife. If she escapes, they will go for the children.
Aged parents and siblings are not even spared. Because of immediate financial gains, the age-long ‘Omoluabi’ has taken flight as the perpetrators operate at will in Yorubaland.

“Since nobody wants to lose a loved one, family members look for money by all means to pay these evil doers. And the vicious circle continues,” Iba Adams lamented.

He said it was high time the Yoruba people rally round and stop what he termed as “this cancer that is spreading its virus across Yorubaland,” warning that those engaging in kidnapping wanted to destroy the economy of Yorubaland aside making money from the evil venture and, therefore, the need to stop them now.

“It is high time we stopped this cancer that is spreading its virus across Yorubaland. Aside from making money from this evil venture, these blood-thirsty maniacs want to destroy the economy of Yorubaland. That is why they must be stopped now.

“Kidnapping for ransom is already creating fear in Yorubaland and if our people can no longer go to farms or travel through the highways, our economy will be affected.

“We must wage war against kidnapping and the time for that fight is now. As far as I am concerned, I want to appeal to all the South-West governors and all the stakeholders to treat this cankerworm with the urgent attention it deserves because for any development to take place in any polity, evil must not be appeased. It must be decisively dealt with and fought from all angles like the monster that it is.

“As I am sending this statement, some enemies of the Yoruba are plotting on how to perpetrate another evil.
We should not allow them.

Let us save our people now and history will remember us for the noble role we played to rescue Yorubaland from evil doers.

“I have suggested a better solution to this menace in my first letter to all the southwest governors, the traditional rulers and other prominent sons and daughters of the race. And I have urged them all to urgently liaise with the Chief Executives in Yorubaland to convene a South-West Security Summit to be held in one of the state capitals.

The meeting will involve, among others, traditional rulers, religious and opinion leaders, farmers, businessmen, herders and security agents in the region. This is the time for us to act before the situation becomes unbearable,” Iba Adams said.