The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111, has expressed strong indignation over what he referred to as “mindless killings of innocent souls, and heartless burnings of defenceless peoples’ property at Igangan”, in Ibarapa North local government area of Oyo State, by yet to be identified bandits.
Scores of residents of Igangan community were in the early hours of Sunday killed and several houses, including the Palace of Ashi of Igangan, burnt by unknown bandits.
In a statement on behalf of the Paramount Ruler by His Director of Media and Publicity, Bode Durojaiye, Alaafin also lamented over the burning of the Palace of Ashi of Igangan community, which he described as a ” taboo”.
He stated that genuine and concerted efforts towards addressing the challenges to peace and security must, as a matter of utmost concern, be given topmost priority by the authorities concerned.
He added that Nigeria’s ethnic, sectional and religious diversities ought to serve as source of national unity, cohesion and integration.
“But unfortunately, this has over the years constituted serious threat to peace, security and national development because the political elites have always tended to manipulate these identities for their parochial interests.
“Politically, the amalgamation of the Southern and Northern protectorates in 1914 brought together peoples of diverse
historical and cultural background into one political space to chart a new future.
“Despite this obvious challenge of diversity, the commitment of the colonial government towards ensuring the unity was demonstrated in a number of policies aimed at fostering cultural, political, social and economic ties among the various groups in the new nation.
“Thus, from the time of amalgamation of the two protectorates with the colony of Lagos, till the period of regional administrations, Nigeria became committed to a united federation. Its commitment arose from its acceptance of federalism as a particular kind of function
arrangement between diverse communities for living together and
working together nationally whilst preserving a measure of separes ately entity”.
The royal father urged security agencies to employ native intelligence services in a bid to effectively tackle critical security challenges confronting the country.
Said he, “the security of any country is critical for the development, economic prosperity and democratic principles to thrive, hence the critical issue is the way a country deploys its strategic security responses to protect the citizens.
“The fundamental thing is how you deal with these challenges. We can sustain national security operations or options by using native intelligence gathering as a response to national security threat.
“It is important for government to take holistic view on information gathering as a system for addressing insecurity, just as there is the urgent tneed to deploy technologies required for
identification of criminal suspects”.
The Paramount Ruler who described banditry and other security challenges facing the country as ” gory, worrisome and disturbing”, pointed out that security is critical to the survival of any nation to forestall lawlessness, chaos and the eventual disintegration of the country, as it is considered as a dynamic condition, which involves the relative ability of a nation to counter threats to its core values and interests..
“There can be no national development without relative peace and stability. There have been greater challenges of security in recent times than at any point in time in our history, thus rendering our political stability fragile, democratic institutions and processes fluid, and our economy debilitated. Government, political leaders and followers, and all of
us, must have the courage and honesty to get to the root causes of our current state of insecurity, underpinned by criminality and nsurgency”.
While commiserating with the families of those who were unjustly killed and their property burnt, including the Ashi of Igangan, and the Oyo State Government, Oba Adeyemi further called for seamless synergy involving traditional rulers, security agencies and government at all levels, to fashion a framework for collaboration on security, grassroots Mobilisation, advocacy and development, with the objective of ensuring stability at all times.
His words, “as the Permanent Chairman of Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs, and as a custodian of traditions and values, traditional rulers are the ones who keep peace in our rural areas and in the various local governments that constitute our State. We are, indeed, formidable barricades which reinforce peace and security of the nation”.
Oba Adeyemi, therefore, admonished Nigerians thus, “as citizens, we must respect our various religious and ethnic backgrounds because this is because it is God that brought us together under one country.
“Thus, when we understand one another, the security challenges bedevilling the country will be a thing of the past.”
