Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has threatened to suspend traditional rulers of warring Ifon-Osun and Ilobu communities from their thrones if violence should resurface again in their domain.
He stated this in a meeting held with the traditional rulers of Ifon-Osun and Ilobu on Saturday.
The governor added that the traditional rulers who signed peace undertakings at the meeting will face the wrath of the law if communal confrontation reoccurs.
Governor Adeleke, who also held a meeting with service commanders of the various security agencies, has adopted stringent measures and operational plans to restore peace in Ifon-Ilobu-Erin Osun communities and permanently stop the recurrence of the communal feud.
In a statement issued on Saturday by Mallam Olawale Rasheed, spokesperson to Governor Adeleke, the meeting witnessed a separate closed-door discussion with traditional rulers and chiefs from the affected communities with stern warnings to embrace peace or face the full wrath of the law.
The statement partly reads, “Various service commanders at the meeting discussed the presentations by the state governor and adopted several peace measures, which are already under implementation.
“Governor Adeleke had earlier called for decisive action to permanently resolve the conflict and proceeded to issue directives to the commanders for immediate action.
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“Part of the directives includes the immediate deployment of the joint task force with all necessary logistics for operational results, summoning of key ring leaders in the affected towns for interrogation and signing of peace undertakings, arrests and immediate prosecution of perpetrators of the violence, invoking of the cybercrime act to nab those spreading old videos to cause more violence.
“The Governor further threatened to suspend the traditional rulers of the affected towns if violence should resurface, while those who sign peace undertakings will face the law if communal confrontation reoccurs.”
The state governor also used the opportunity to alert the security agencies of what he termed “other security threats” in the state arising from alleged opposition destabilisation plots, which include plans to ignite conflicts across motor parks in the state, sponsoring of fake local government workers groups, and hoodlum protests in the guise of teacher applicants’ protests, among others.
While commending the security agencies for their patriotic service to the state, Governor Adeleke urged them to act on all the resolutions reached as he pledged the administration’s support for all peace moves by the service commanders.
The service commanders at the meeting pledged to implement the security measures agreed to at the meeting and assured the government and the people of the affected communities of imminent restoration and sustenance of peace in the areas.
“In attendance are service commanders from the Nigerian Army, the police, the Department of State Service, the Civil Defence Corps, the Immigration Service, the Amotekun Security Service, among others,” the statement added.
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