Using history to tackle insecurity in Oyo State

There is a reason why historians and folklorists say civil disorder is the disease of Ibadan. Recent criminal events in Oyo State and the politicization of the resultant grim losses provoked this piece. There is no society that is insulated from crime. This is why law constitutes the veritable mechanism designed to maintain order in the society. Oyo State, in my opinion, has always been a major victim of bad politics, with the consequence of aggravated insecurity.  And all these precede the present political dispensation. I live in Ibadan and I know how, under the military, and, in the two decades after military’s exit from power in the country, security has remained a major issue in the state, particularly in Ibadan.

According to available data, an unusual increase of 217.3% in crime rate was recorded in 2011 in Oyo State. Scholars and other experts that time, challenged the government to put on its thinking cap, work hard in order to make the people save, governable and productive and attract genuine investors as opposed to brief case political contractors. More importantly, they said all hands should be on deck under the multi-faceted approach and strategy towards raising the bar.

Researchers attest to the fact that political convenience, rather than sincere and purposeful approach to curbing the menace in Oyo State took pre-eminence in the years before 2019. The whimsical approach is affirmed by a research work by three scholars: Olufolabo.O.O, Akintande O.J and Ekum M.I of the Department of Statistics, Yaba College of Technology, both of the Department of Mathematics, University of Lagos on the distribution of crimes in Oyo State. Their report established the prevalence of 18 major crimes reported cases to the police in the 20 years that Nigeria restored civil rule.  The major crimes they identified comprised robbery, kidnapping, house and  store breakings, theft/stealing, grievous hurt and wounding, murder, rape, assault, among others. The researchers gave the breakdown: an  average of 56 cases of murder, 152 cases of armed robbery, 12 cases of suicide, 541 cases  of grievous  harms/wounding,  1196  cases  of  assaults,  392  cases  of  burglary/stealing,  263  cases  of  store-breaking, 544 cases of house breaking, 1385 cases of stealing/theft, 99 cases of rape/indecent assaults, 12 cases of  kidnapping, 442 cases of false pretence/cheating, 110 cases of unlawful possession,  16 cases  of arson, 327 cases of breach of peace, 23 cases of forgery, eight cases of child stealing and 29 cases of unnatural offences.

Those are not nice figures. While crime cannot be absolutely eliminated from the society, it can be checked to make way for a better society. It requires a responsible, honest and resourceful leadership to achieve and retain such lofty and noble goal and objectives. Apart from cases of assassinations, other heinous crimes that were witnessed in Oyo State in the recent past political dispensation include avoidable killings, arson, robberies, and other atrocious acts.

While the opposition in Oyo State seek to cash political relevance from the recent unfortunate crises, they forget that the situation assumed a more frightening dimension during their own years in power. In the last political dispensation in the wake of the clamp down by some northern state governments on criminals among commercial motorcyclists otherwise called Okada riders, the evil-minded among them relocated to the South, especially to Oyo State. The then government accommodated them. While those misguided elements decided to unleash terror on millions of law-abiding citizens of Oyo State, the then political leadership played the ostrich, indulging the criminal gangs and obvious agents of darkness because their party was in power in Abuja. There were other criminal gangs who, as loose cannons during election seasons, hacked down people. A murdered member of the House of Representatives, Temitope Sugar, was a victim of such violent politics. It was evident that the then APC government failed in its responsibility to consciously fight the root causes of crime. The state soon became a theatre of blood, tears and sorrow.  A few more instances will suffice.

A member of the State House of Assembly, Gideon Aremu, was assassinated on July 1, 2016. Elected on the ticket of the Labour Party, to represent Oorelope Constituency, Aremu was the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Public Relations and Security. He was assassinated by three gunmen in front of his house in Alakia area of the state as he came out of his car to open his gate. In 2015, there was the case of the brutal murder of a security officer at Agugu and three others with three houses razed at Adekile area of Ibadan South East Local Government Area (LGA) over the rumour of a kidnapper’s den. Another ugly incident was a series of atrocities perpetrated by the notorious ‘One Million Boys’ in Ibadan, the state capital. The leader of that group later met his waterloo in the hands of security operatives. Residents of the state capital had constant apprehension due to atrocious activities of the gang especially in Born Photo, Foko, Isale-Osi, Popoyemoja, Oopeyeosa, Idi-Arere, Kudeti. Reminiscent of the drug gangs of Latin America, One Million Boys, the Indomie Boys and Abe-Igi Boys ruled that era. The gang members perpetually held the citizenry hostage, particularly at their headquarters in Kudeti and the environs.

In January 2019, arsonists in the early hours of Sunday razed no fewer than 30 shops and houses along the popular Beere-Molete road in Ibadan. The affected shops and houses included those located at Idi-Arere, Bode up to Allelluyah petrol station. A lot of families were thrown into sorrow after they lost their breadwinners and their means of livelihood ruined.

A similar terror was unleashed on Idi Arere, Kudeti and Oke Odo Areas gangsters, just as criminals under disguise led a gang war in Idi Arere and Born Foto areas of the metropolis, looting and burning shops and houses. Robberies and surprise vicious attacks became frequent at Iwo Road under bridge. The carnage of that era of brigandage included the murder of law enforcement agents on old Ife Road. Regular robberies near Watershed, killing of policemen at APC state secretariat at Oke Ado, as well as the series of violent gang clashes in Oyo town cannot be forgotten in a hurry by honest and forthright observers of events in the state.

What about the cases of looting of shops and robbing of traders at Agbeni, Foko, Ita Maya, Ogunpa, Idikan and Ayeye, as well as the ceaseless bloody clashes with the attendant loss of lives at Opoyeosa, Ayeye, Abebi, Nalende and Mokola. The list of the blight included the incessant gang orcstrtaed mayhem at Ita Ege, Idi Aro, Eleta, Agugu, Idi Obi, Ajegede and Oje areas. These are not hoax, fantasies, but well-documented infractions, breakdown of law and order in the last political dispensation under the APC. Therefore, the recent attempt to reincarnate that era of impunity, reign of terror and carnage is a case of the hand of Esau and voice of Jacob. Those who believed they had been chased out of power by the people cannot absolve themselves from the wicked bid to take the hand of the clock backward on the altar of inordinate political ambition.

So, what is the way forward? In a research on selected crime data in Nigeria and published in 2018, Messrs Pelumi E. Oguntunde, Oluwadare O. Ojo, Hilary I. Okagbue,a and Omoleye A. Oguntunde argue that the diverse differences in geographical areas, population density, demographic characteristics, natural association between different categories of crime has rendered crime and its sophistication unevenly distributed globally. In the opinion of these scholars, a proper grasp of the nexus and dynamics of crimes is vital in the fight to keep societies safe. According to them, new approaches involving greater personnel skills combined with modern investigative tools to handle crime data are required to extract vital information hidden in the massive existing crime records.

There has to be sincere collaboration and cooperation from all stakeholders with the present state administration. There must be a synergy in terms of logistics and other forms of assistance to security agencies, especially the South-West security outfit, Amotekun in the collective drive to raise the level of security. It is gratifying that incumbent Governor Seyi Makinde has unveiled fresh initiatives to bring further impetus into his template of a modern security system that Oyo State deserves in the 21st Century. But it is disheartening that some forces and individuals are playing the role of spoilers and are bent on sabotaging the bid of the governor to make the state safe for all. He was in Igangan where he took responsibility for the situation on ground. And on the recent unfortunate violence in Ibadan, he took firm decisions. From all indications so far, Makinde has also demonstrated humility and wisdom by admonishing that all stakeholders should rise above politics on the drive to make everyone safe. Makinde was quoted as saying: “I have been listening and watching people try to politicise the issue of security. Well, I want to appeal to such individuals within the state; it is our state and it is only God that puts people in position. If you want to destroy your state before everybody to gain political power, I wonder what kind of state such an individual or group of people will want to preside over.”

Then the governor inaugurated the board of Amotekun and promised that the exercise would pave the way for a more secure Oyo State through greater inter-agency relationships and synergy with similar security networks in the neighbouring states. If the governor keeps to his commitment towards saving lives and property – and he has no reason not to – then, it is not misplaced to believe that Oyo and, indeed, Ibadan, will permanently be cured of their historic disease of civil disorder and insecurity.

• Mr ‘Lomi Odu, a public affairs analyst, writes in from Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State.

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