Featured, Security
Many Nigerians have given up and some others are leaving the country due mainly to the worsening security challenges. The daily killings and kidnapping for ransom have taken a turn for the worse. The solutions are not beyond the people, but the obvious lack of political will to address these challenges by the federal government is disturbing.
By Goddy Ikeh
IN his inaugural speech on May 29, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari, admitted that Boko Haram was not only the security issue bedeviling the country. “The spate of kidnappings, armed robberies, herdsmen/farmers clashes, cattle rustlings all help to add to the general air of insecurity in our land. We are going to erect and maintain an efficient, disciplined people – friendly and well – compensated security forces within an over – all security architecture,” Buhari said.
Unfortunately, more than five years after that pledge by Buhari, nothing has changed, rather the government and the nation are still sermonizing about internal security challenges. And like many of the promises made in 2015, no one can hardly point to a single one that has been successfully accomplished. So it will amount to expecting too much if anybody tries to isolate security challenges as top priority for the government.
Accordingly, the spate of kidnappings, armed robberies, herdsmen/farmers clashes, cattle rustlings have not only persisted, there have gained more ground and are presently threatening the unity of the nation.
Although the state governments had resolved to tackle the issue of internal security by establishing special regional security outfits since the federal police have apparently failed to secure lives and property in the states despite the enormous support from the state governments and the failure of the federal government to subscribe to the clamour for state police.
However, the recent security crisis in Oyo and Ondo States has exposed the nation’s weakness in handling internal security challenges. For instance, the directive of the Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State to the Fulani herders, who are occupying the forest reserve in the state to vacate the forest and ordered all herders in the state to register with the state government to check the illegal activities of armed herdsmen and bandits in the state ignited the usual war of words between the Presidency and any state government.
Unfortunately, the governor’s directive was met with the usual reaction from the Presidency, calling for restraint on the side of the state government and the Fulani communities.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said in a statement that in tackling crime, the Ondo State Government would not act outside the constitution and that the governor being a legal practitioner, should know that he cannot “unilaterally oust thousands of herders, who have lived all their lives in the state on account of the infiltration of the forests by criminals”. Such a reaction from the Presidency has the unintended result of emboldening the Fulani herdsmen in their quest not to obey the laws of the state where they reside.
In addressing the security crisis in Oyo State which involves the farmers and the illegal activities of the herdsmen, Gov. Seyi Makinde, said that he was planning to deploy 200 Amotekun operatives to Ibarapa, Oke-Ogun zones of the state. According to Makinde, the state government is implementing measures that will restore peace in Ibarapa, Oke-Ogun and other regions of the state.
He explained that the measures include applying the Oyo State Open Rearing and Grazing Regulation Law, 2019, documentation of foreigners living in the state and ensuring synergy among security outfits in the state. This, the governor believes will ensure peaceful co-existence among residents in parts of the state.
However, in what appears to be a needless trip to Abuja to avert the politicisation of insecurity in the South West, the chairman of South-West Governors’ Forum and Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, and his Oyo State counterpart, Gov. Seyi Makinde, had audience and separately briefed President Buhari on the security situation in their states. Although Gov. Akeredolu did not brief the media of the outcome of his parley with Buhari, but his Commissioner for information and orientation, Donald Ojogo, said that the governor secured a presidential nod to evict the elements in Ondo.
“The governor met with the President and it centered on issue of security in the South West, especially Ondo State. It was a huge opportunity for the governor to put the records straight as regards the erroneous impression that Governor Akeredolu had asked all Fulani and herdsmen to vacate the state.
“The meeting afforded both leaders a great window to explore ingenious methods to tackle the issue of insecurity in the region. In particular, Governor Akeredolu sought, and indeed, obtained the President’s support and encouragement to flush out criminals from the forests of Ondo State,” the commissioner said.
But Gov. Makinde told newsmen after the visit that owing to the huge size of Oyo State, measuring 29,000 square kilometers, the two existing mobile police squadrons were inadequate, hence he requested for more formations to better security in the state.
“One of the issues I discussed with Mr. President is that Oyo State’s land mass is quite big. It is close to 29,000 square kilometers. If you take all the states in the South East geo-political zone of Nigeria, they are still not be as big as Oyo. And the state right now only has two mobile police squadrons.
“So, I requested for more squadrons to be deployed to Oyo State and also ask for support for the joint security outfit, because the underlying issue here has to do with limited opportunities,” he said.
In his intervention, the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, who also met with President Buhari, implored the government not to allow the scary insecurity in South West to degenerate.
“Political parties might probably want to hijack it (insecurity) and to the glory of God, as the co-chairman of National Council of Traditional Rulers, it is our duty to make sure that everything is right.
“The way out is to separate the bad eggs from the good ones and take politics out of it,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, the minister of interior, Rauf Aregbesola, canvassed peace and unity.
A statement by his media aide, Mohammed Manga, said that the minister stressed the need for constructive dialogue, neighbourliness and peace-building.
In a statement by his media aide, Mohammed Manga, the two-term erstwhile Osun governor stressed constructive dialogue, neighbourliness and peace-building.
Meanwhile, the governors of the South-West have agreed to ban all forms of open grazing in the region. According to Gov. Makinde of Oyo State, the decision was taken when the governors met with the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria as well as security chiefs.
In attendance at the meeting are Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Mohammed Abubakar of Jigawa State and Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State.
Giving a report after the meeting on Monday, January 25, 2021, Makinde tweeted: “Today, the South West governors held a security stakeholders’ meeting in Ondo State. The meeting was attended by our brother governors from Kebbi and Jigawa States; security chiefs, South West zone led by the AIG Zone 11 and leaders from the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria.
“Collectively, we resolved to ban open grazing in all parts of the South-West. In Oyo State, we already have a law against open grazing which will continue to be implemented by our security agencies.”
“I restated that we will not permit criminality as a response to criminal actions. Instead we will continue to support our security agencies to do their duties. Also, we will work with our people to face our common enemies – the criminals; kidnappers, armed robbers and bandits,” local media reports quoted the governor as saying.
Perhaps, this resolution by this meeting of the South West governors should be adopted nationwide if only the nation’s leaders are indeed interested in curbing the number of lives lost daily in the clashes between herdsmen and the farmers. Although, there are some dissenting voices by some other Fulani groups to this decision, the federal government should for once support this decision and put this matter of rising cases of kidnapping and sundry crimes in the country by criminal elements, who masquerade as herdsmen in their host communities to rest.
Some stakeholders have since warned that cattle rearing is a private business and that the federal government has no business getting involved in the provision of ranches for cattle owners. They recalled that at the heat of the controversial ROGA policy that the Kano, Niger and Kogi states offered some hectares of land for the cattle owners and their associations to establish ranches, but this offer was not taken, rather the herders preferred to head southwards to graze their cattle and occupy the forests there and allegedly engaging in all sorts of criminal activities.
The rejection of these offers, according to the stakeholders, is an indication that there is more to this decision to reject ranching in north of the country and their preference to continue with their open grazing and occupying the forests in the south of the country against the wishes of the people.
– Jan. 30, 2021 @ 16:45 GMT |
A.I
Tags: Adeyeye Ogunwusi Garba Shehu Gov. Seyi Makinde Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu President Muhammadu Buhari Rauf Aregbesola Rethinking Security Architecture & Making Nigeria Safer Place To Live
