Ogun traditional ruler to Tinubu: Dialogue with Yoruba Nation agitators

President Bola Tinubu has been urged to as a matter of importance engaged those calling for the creation of Yoruba Nation in the interest of the country.

The call was made by Eselu of Iselu in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oba Akintunde Akinyemi, on Saturday, at a special event to mark his birthday and hosting of 146 traditional rulers across the State, held in Abeokuta, the State capital.

He noted that the agitators must be invited for a peace talk where modalities that will be beneficial to all and sundry be worked out.

Oba Akinyemi asked the President to temper justice with mercy with agitators, “as handling them fiercely could further fuel the agitation.”

He said, “On the Yoruba nation agitators, I want the president to Imbibe the rule of engagement where he will call everybody to a round table, we don’t have to use machine guns, these people are our people, they are our subject, the President should call all of them together, we work in modalities, we will tell them our manifestos and they will understand that president Tinubu means good for the country and South West in particular.”

On State policing, the monarch was of the opinion that the country is not ripe yet for it, submitting that the nation needs to strengthen its democracy before considering State policing.

While adding that the President must consider adequate financing and insurance for existing police before decentralizing the policing system.

“I agree that Nigeria is not ripe for state police because when you see it in the US, you will know that policing has to do with transparency, equity, accountability and zero corruption but in Nigeria today if you are an APC and the governor is PDP, police will act to the instruction of the governor and will be victimizing those in the opposition party.

“I think we still need to practice democracy more even before we talk about state police. Let us talk about stable electricity because this is a computer age, nobody goes around and starts stopping vehicles to detect criminals.

“In order word, the president should look into giving adequate financing and insurance to the existing police before decentralizing it to the state,” the monarch added.