Prime kidnap locations in Oyo revealed, govt mounts cameras

When on Monday, Governor Seyi Makinde inspected the security joint base located at Mamu Village on the Oyo/Ogun state border, it was a clear message that burning issues demanded drastic measures. Just as the country is grappling with issues of insecurity, hardly did a fortnight pass in Oyo state without reports of kidnap, banditry, thuggery, killing, robbery, gang violence among other forms of crimes and criminalities. From Ibarapa to Oke-Ogun, Ibadan, Ogbomoso, it has been one record of crime, criminality or the other.

The state governor has identified kidnap hotspots and has taken measures to put a stop to it and other violent crimes.

While the state grappled with thuggery, gang violence, robbery within towns, there was growing fear plying the entry and exit points into the state with records of people being kidnapped along such roads. There also were records of farmers hacked by suspected bandits while on or on the way to their farms. In addressing gang violence, thuggery within towns, the state government mandated various persons to hold meetings with stakeholders across communities to preach the message of peace to them. Among other measures, the state government had also mandated that security committee meetings be held regularly across the 33 local government areas of the state.

In addressing growing cases of crime and criminality in the state, Governor Seyi Makinde recently announced the setting up of the state task force on security, also called “War Room” that he heads. The state task force came up with an integrated security concept which will bring together state and non-state actors to jointly fight crime and criminality. According to Special Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on Security, Mr Fatai Owoseni, the Army, the Police, the Department of State Security Services, Civil Defence Corps, Amotekun operatives, members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), the Vigilante, the Agbekoya, the Soludero, and other state and non-state security actors will be brought under one umbrella to jointly fight crime and criminality in the state.

But amid these various measures, there continued to be growing cases of kidnap. On April 6, one Salami Sodirat, a student of Royal Institute of Health Technology, Eruwa campus, was kidnapped on the Igboora-Eruwa road. On the same day, a farmer named Kereku Yanmi was attacked at Oyankalu farm in Lukosi, Ayete in Ibarapa North Local Government Area of the state. On April 22, no fewer than two persons were kidnapped while travelling on the Igboora-Eruwa road. On April 13, three women: Mrs Temitope Okeowo, Mrs Abosede Adebayo and Mrs Bola Ogunrinde were kidnapped at Onipe community, via Idi Ayunre in Ibadan. On April 24, a hotelier, Mr Oyedokun Olukunle, his wife, Busayo and seven other members of the family were kidnapped in Ajaawa, Ogbomoso zone of the state. On March 15, two persons, Mr Popoola Isaac and Mr Ismail Adeoye, were abducted from a quarry site located along Ijebu-Ode/Ibadan Road, Ibadan. On March 30, a couple was abducted at Alabameji village, Sanyo area of Ibadan. The pattern of kidnap showed that roads leading in and outside the state capital, Ibadan, and the state, at large had become dreaded. And commuters and transport identified Ibadan-Ijebu road, Ibadan-Igboora road, Igboora-Abeokuta road and the Ogunmakin and Alapako areas on the Lagos-Ibadan road as critical spots they drive past with their hearts in their mouths.

A security source disclosed that prime kidnap locations in Oyo State have been located in Ido Local Government Area, Oluyole local government area, Igangan axis and other parts of Ibarapa areas around the Oyo and Kwara states boundary. The source disclosed that all routes into Oke-Ogun zone and the entire zone serve as hotbed for kidnapping.

Months ago, Chairman, Oyo State Security Network Agency (Amotekun corps) in Oyo State, General Kunle Togun (rtd) had said several commercial motorcyclists in the state as spies for kidnappers and bandits and other criminals that dwell in Yoruba land. Togun said the kidnappers and bandits were ferried inside trailers into Oyo State among other states during the Covid-19 lockdown. Therefore, there were pointers to the influx of people stemming from porosity of the state’s entry and exit points. It was gathered that there are nine entry and exit points into Ibadan and 15 points in total, across the state.

Apparently, in having one of the fifteen points safeguarded, Governor Makinde on Monday, established a security base was established to tackle insecurity, especially cases of kidnapping along the Ibadan/Ijebu-Ode road of the state. The governor, while inspecting the base located at Mamu Village, Oluyole Local Government Area, a border area between Oyo and Ogun border, said that the base is a pilot project and that the intention of the government is to secure all entry and exit points to Oyo State. He added that the security joint base has a Close Circuit Television (CCTV) and cameras that are being monitored from the state’s control room in Iyaganku, Ibadan. Officers manning the security base are expected to call for more reinforcements once they get wind of suspicious movements or criminally related activities with a view to effectively deal with such situation.

To ensure 24/7 presence of security agencies at the base, the combined team of the police, Civil Defence Officers, the military will run in shifts. There is also a collaboration with non-state actors in the area around the base to give information to security agencies for swift action to follow. While inaugurating the base, Makinde said, “This particular place has really been in the news for kidnapping, people coming across the border to perpetrate evil.

“This is a pilot project and we want to secure all the entry and exit points to Oyo State. This is the border with Ogun State. If everything works well, because we have CCTV Cameras out there that are being monitored from the control room.

“If anything is going on here, they can alert us so that the security agencies can deal with the situation appropriately. But for us, if we know people coming in and we can trace them or if any crime is committed inside the state and they want to run out, we can activate the process whereby they can be apprehended at the entry/exit points.”

To show support for the security base, Makinde later presented five operational vehicles to the Nigerian Police, Oyo State Command and another three operational vehicles to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Oyo State Command.

The effectiveness of the security base for the Ibadan-Ijebu road is expected to dictate whether and how the project will be replicated in securing the about 14 other entry and exit points across the state. While proper funding for security is critical for its success, so also will collaboration among security agencies, between state and non-state actors be crucial in successfully tackling the influx of bandits, kidnappers and other criminals into the state. While attempting to guard the state’s entry and exit points, the state must also deal with those thugs, armed robbers, evil/criminally minded individuals domiciled in towns and communities across the state.

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