ADO – EKITI – A Yoruba adage says ‘ Seamless burials should be designed for a child who chooses to die many times in order to taunt his parents” . Such is the case of the twin evils of banditry and kidnappings in Ekiti State..
Nigeria ,as a country is no doubt, is facing a huge security challenge and Ekiti is not left out. So, when reports of killings and banditry in Ekiti begun to make headlines, it raised a lots of concern not only to the citizens but to the government and other critical stakeholders.
In Ekiti State , several lives have been lost to kidnappings and banditry with fresh incidents being recorded .
Ekiti certainly is one of the states that have suffered heavy
casualties. The traditional institution ,the Nigeria Bar Association ,the farmers ,tertiary institutions as well as churches have ,at one time or the other ,lost their members to the crime .
Only last year, at the peak of kidnappings ,a detachment of military stormed the evil forest along Efon -Iwaraja roads and dislodged the criminals in their hideouts .During the raid ,a lifeless body of a kidnapped victim was recovered .
The raid was carried days after three persons were killed along the axis
Also around January in 2009 about nine people were seized in Ekiti by the kidnappers and three of them later died ,including a traditional ruler and a former Vice Chancellor of the newly created University of Education
,Ikere -EKITI when the vehicle conveying to the den involved in accident .
A former Senator Ayo Arise who represented Ekiti North Senatorial District between 2007-2011 was also abducted on his way back to Abuja sometimes in 2014 around Lokoja axis .The ex-legislator spent days with his host before he was released .
Even the hunters are not spared by gunmen suspected to be rampaging herders in the mindless killings .One of the leaders of the hunters Emmanuel Ilori was recently killed in a farmstead in Orin-,Ekiti
Ilori 68 ,was killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen on the night on June 28 at Orin Farm Settlement at Orin Ekiti, life
Narrating their ordeal ,one of the hunters , Adeniyi Ajayi, said he and three others would have suffered same fate as late Ilori but for the providence .
The bereaved hunter described the late Ilori as a hero who actually sacrificed his life to save the community of possible greater calamity .
According to him ,” I saw the unusual appearance in the farm while I was hunting that Friday night,and “I promptly put a call through to Baba as a leader. He called others on phone and eight of us, including him, headed to the place.
Other hunters, Martins Dada, Ogundele Omiata and Biodun Awomayi, who corroborated Ajayi, said the deceased hunter called them to embark on the mission, saying that while others took position at different spots, Ilori and two others went to the spot where the suspected herders were in the abandoned piggery.
According to them, while the slain man attempted to dialogue with the suspected Fulani herdsmen, who according to them numbered about 30, they just opened fire on him while the other hunters scampered to safety in view of the superior firearms with the bandits.
Also speaking the state chairman, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, Mr Kolawole Rotimi, said: “I want to say that losing a brave farmer like Mr Emmanuel Ilori is disheartening and discouraging. You cannot go to Orin Farm Settlement. This is part of what has bedeviled Yorubaland.
Rotimi, who alleged that there was fear of Fulani herdsmen everywhere, said: “I’m calling on our traditional rulers in Yorubaland that farmers are no more secured in the farms again and all the government efforts is going to be in jeopardy if there are herdsmen everywhere as threats to our lives and farms. We don’t want them anymore. Sambisa Forest can take all the herders in the country,” he said.
Expectedly, some interest groups begun to read political meaning to the upsurge of crime in the state in particular and the country at large.
For instance, the main opposition ,the People’s Democratic Party had accused governor Kayode Fayemi of not paying due attention to the incessant herders attacks on innocent citizens and farmers in Ekiti because of his alleged Presidential ambition.
But Fayemi had cautioned the opposition against making such allusion saying security issue should not be sacrificed on the altar of political discuss . “The current security challenges in the country should not be politicized as the proliferation and possession of unlawful firearms call for increased security measures” Fayemi warned.
Governor Fayemi while featuring on a statewide Radio and Television programme in Ado-Ekiti hinted that security agents have identified some accomplishes and links to the hoodlums who are terrorizing the people of Ekiti
He disclosed that the suspects usually supply food and other consumables to the kidnappers in their den located in certain hilly areas of Efon-Alaaye axis .
Beyond that ,governor Fayemi recently conveyed a Security Summit where representatives of security agencies in the country, including the Army, Police, State Security Service (SSS), Civil Defence, NDLEA, and NAPTIP as well as officials in charge of security matters across the 36 states will converge on Ado-Ekiti,
The two day summit reviewed the security situation in the state and also proffer workable solutions to end it .
In his speech at opening session, Fayemi stressed the need for a collaborative approach by all sectors of the Nigerian population to successfully tackle and overcome security challenges in the country.
According to him, the cooperation of all security agencies,
traditional rulers, community and religious leaders and all citizens is imperative to overcome insecurity and all forms of criminality.
He disclosed that he has been in constant touch with his counterparts in the neighbouring states of Ondo, Osun, Kogi and Kwara to secure boundary towns and villages which might be used by criminal elements to gain access to the state.
The Governor who was represented by his Deputy, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, Fayemi warned that the current security challenges in the country should not be politicized but must be frontally tackled in synergy with all stakeholders.
He noted that the appropriateness and timing of the meeting cannot be overemphasized as it came at a time the country is facing various security challenges.
Fayemi stressed that security of lives and property is crucial to socio-economic development which explained why his administration has taken proactive measures to curtail emerging security challenges.
Some of the measures, according to him, include, donation of two units of Armoured Personnel Carrier vehicles to the State Police Command, monthly financial assistance to the security agencies in the state and regular meeting of the State Security Council.
Others are inclusion of the informal security outfits in the security architecture of the state, enlistment of the support of traditional rulers in the maintenance of lives and property in their domains, security awareness campaign on the electronic media.
The rest are establishment of the State Security Trust Fund to enable sustainable funding of crime prevention interventions, creation of an anti-crime outfit code named ‘Operation Keep Ekiti Safe,’ resuscitation of Peace Corps and resuscitation of the Security Tracking System jettisoned by the immediate past administration.
“And with what we are seeing now, it has become imperative to seek the operation of all security agencies, community and traditional leaders and other stakeholders for a safe and secure business climate
“We are quite aware that there might be incursion of criminals from outside the state. Therefore, I have started contacting me counterparts in the neighbouring states with a view to synergizing for more protection of lives and property along the boundary towns and villages.”
The Governor added that hosting of the meeting was a demonstration of his administration’s interest in the security of the people expressing the belief that decisions reached would enrich the business of maintenance of law and order in the country.
The post Tasks Before Fayemi Over Insecurity In Ekiti appeared first on Independent Newspapers Nigeria.
Source: Independent
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