The Ayangburen of Ikorodu, Oba Kabiru Shotobi, on Monday urged the Nigerian Army to partner with community leaders on intelligence gathering to curb insecurity in the country.

Shotobi made the appeal during the visit of the Commander, 9 Brigade, Brig-Gen. Sale Kawugana, to his palace in Ikorodu, Lagos State.

According to the traditional ruler, the Nigerian military has played a significant role in curbing crime in his community, especially pipeline vandalism around the coastal areas.

“You have come to exchange ideas and views on ways to tackle insecurity and we are ready to partner with you because security job is for everybody.

“There has been a robust relationship between the army and our community for long, in view of this we pledge our support for the military.

“The military has done a lot of significant job by honouring most distress calls when issues of killings by cult groups were on the rampage.

“We call on the army for assistance to curtail the menace of cultism, pipeline vandalism and other criminal acts that cause unrest in our community.”

He urged the commander to assist in curtailing the excesses of land grabbers aiding and abeting cult activities that had been causing unrest in Ikorodu community.

The royal father said the land grabbers usually recruit cult members in carrying out thier operations.

The commander, in his response, said that the purpose of the visit was to pay homage to traditional rulers.

He said he needed to thank them for what they had done and to solicit for their support as enjoyed by his predecessor.

“My predecessor has spoken so much about the support he enjoyed from the Ayangburen and the peace loving people of Ikorodu,” he said.

The commander stressed that security is everybody’s business, and the concept and definition of security approach has been modified over time.

He said that the approach was all encompassing with stakeholders, security vigilance groups, community policing groups, and above all, the traditional institutions.

“What makes the traditional institutions so important is because historically, it has been the pivot upon which all other security networks revolved,” he said.

He also urged the community Vigilante Group (VGN) to coordinate and unite the youths in maintaining peace and promised to work closely with them and others to ensure crime is reduced.(NAN)

-Feb, 8, 2021 @ 8:00pm