How Oyo is tackling insecurity

Following disturbing trend of insecurity in Oyo State, WALE AKINSELURE reports ongoing efforts by government
at addressing the challenge.

Except for case of abduction of schoolchildren, Oyo state has been in the spotlight for various forms of crimes and criminalities. Over the past months, the state has recorded gunmen invasions, killings, gang clashes, kidnappings, rape, herdsmen/farmers clashes, banditry, armed robbery and murder. Most recent cases are the invasion of Igangan by suspected herdsmen; the killing of an on-air personality, Titus Badejo; gang war between youths of Abebi and Oopo areas of Ibadan; clash involving members of the Park Management System and phone sellers at Iwo Road, Ibadan which claimed the lives of Rahman Ibrahim and two others; kidnap of wife of the Oyo State Youth Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Oni Salawu Aderike.

Belated cases include the rampant ritual killings that were recorded in Akinyele local government area, kidnap of various people on the Ibadan-Ijebu road, the inter-ethnic clash at Sasa in Ibadan, herdsmen/farmers clashes in Ibarapa and Oke-Ogun zones, vandalism of school properties. Coming on the back of an administration that prides peace and security as its major achievement, the almost weekly record of one form of crime and criminality has continued to raise questions as to whether security has been maintained or worsened under the incumbent Governor Seyi Makinde led administration.

Since the inception of the Makinde administration, insecurity seems to have an unabated undulating pattern. In the past few weeks, the issue of security is presently at the peak of the undulating pattern with family and friends cautioning one another to avoid late nights and be vigilant wherever they pass through. Even lawmakers of the Oyo state house of Assembly, had at plenary, raised an outcry that insecurity in the state had assumed a threatening dimension. In the past days, it has been reports of one killing or the other; weeks before it was one kidnap or attack after the other; months ago, it was one killing of farmer by suspected Fulani herdsmen after another; while last year, it was a combination of kidnappings, ritual killings, mob attack and rape cum murder after another. As the state evolves one security strategy to resolve one issue, it seems another pattern of criminality resurfaces.

In the wake of repeated clashes between herders and farmers as a result of herders invasion of farms, the Oyo state House of Assembly, had on October 24, 2019 passed into law a bill banning open rearing, hearing and grazing of livestock outside permitted ranches in Oyo state. There is also the setting up of peace and security committees across local government areas of the state. To improve security, the Oyo state government also announced an extension in Closed Circuit Television surveillance of the state to the Toll gate end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and Asejire end on the Ibadan-Ife road. In line with his call at the June 25, 2019 security summit held in Ibadan for strengthening of community policing and neighbourhood watch, the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Amotekun was launched by South West governors on January 9, 2020. Here in Oyo state, the Oyo State Security Network Agency kicked off in November 2020 with the passing out of 1,500 Amotekun corps members who were deployed to the 351 wards across the state. To further enhance the operations of Amotekun and in line with the law setting up the network agency, Makinde, on Monday, inaugurated the board of the agency.  The state government must also secure its borders against unguarded entry of people with criminal intentions into the state. It is hoped that the planned citizens’ registration exercise will address this threat.

When Makinde assumed office in May 2019, amid threats of crisis by members of the transport union, many wondered how the administration would handle the usually knotty issue of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). This was because the late Abiola Ajimobi administration superbly curtailed typical excesses of the NURTW. And the first step of the Makinde government was to on May 31, 2019 announce indefinite proscription of NURTW.

For several months, the situation at parks remained calm. And then, in February 2020, came the introduction of the Park Management System headed by Mr Mukaila Lamidi popularly called Auxiliary, to take over the management of parks across the state. The park managers, who are appointees of the state government, had a duty to generate revenue and remit substantial part to the state’s coffers to boost its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). While the park managers are believed to be contributing to an increase the state’s IGR, there weren’t wide reports of the park managers unduly harassing vehicle operators and other residents of the state until the recent incident at Iwo Road which led to loss of lives.

When the attacks in Ibarapa were unabated, some members of the All Progressives Congress in Oyo state under the auspices of The Pacesetters Initiative (TPI), had argued that the body language of Makinde overtly and covertly encouraged hoodlums, criminal elements to perpetrate criminalities while public disorderliness and indiscipline are allowed to reign. The group through a statement signed by its coordinator, Afeez Bolaji and acting Director of Organisation, Olawale Sadare, bemoaned that the security situation in the state continued to degenerate from outset of the Makinde government owing to his failure to read a riot act to criminal elements but allowed them regroup and regain confidence for their nefarious activities.

Speaking at a function on repeated attack on farmers in Ibarapa and Oke-ogun, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi had, especially, accused security agencies of frustrating efforts of traditional rulers by releasing suspected criminals after they have been arrested and handed over to them. The state Commissioner of Police, Mrs Ngozi Onadeko, is also in the eye of the storm and has said the new strategy is the increased drafting of more tactical teams and that the police will be increasing its visibility across the state. Onadeko also urged members of the public to assist the police by providing credible information to the police, especially on attacks carried out by motorcycle riders.

A security expert, Professor Oyesoji Aremu tasked the Oyo state government to reappraise its security strategies and policies with a view to readdressing the obvious internal lapses. This, Aremu, will require a rethink of the current security model. “One, while intelligence is key to addressing insecurity especially if proactive measures are to be effective, the government would do better if various security agencies (conventional and unconventional) are made to synergise. This will require a simultaneous coordinated security framework in which intelligence at the community level would have to be strengthened,” Aremu, of the University of Ibadan, said.

A retired security personnel, Sergeant Araoye Adeola (rtd) decried that the shedding of blood of residents of Oyo state and Nigeria, at large, demands a more proactive measure. Also, an activist, Comrade Ayodeji Adigun called for the formation of non-sectarian, multi-ethnic and multi-religious defence committees in communities whose operation must be under the democratic control of the community people.

The state has also sought spiritual solutions to the challenge of insecurity with the state Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism headed by Dr Wasiu Olatunbosun, in the past days, tasking Christian, Muslim clerics and traditionalists to offer prayers for peace and security in the state. The Community and Public Enlightenment on Security and Peaceful Coexistence with the clerics and traditionalists, tagged “Kajose”, has seen the state extract commitments of clerics across religions to offer prayers against insecurity in the state. According to Olatunbosun, the state needed spiritual backup for the various strides of the Makinde administration in tackling insecurity to manifest.

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