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Urges govs not to ignore Makinde’s alarm
By Oluseye Ojo
The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, has called on all the six governors in the South West to strengthen the security architecture of their states over the influx of bandits that fled the military operations in the North West of Nigeria.
He gave the advice following an alarm raised on Monday in Ibadan by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State in his address during the 2025 annual inter-faith service for civil and public servants in the state.
Makinde had said: “Just this morning, at the security briefing, because we do have a special operation going on right now, quite a number of the bad people from the majorly North-western zone get in the heat, and they are relocating here. But we will find them out, and we’ll deal with them.
“Because of the stampede last year, I went to Fashola (Farm Settlement), just to lie low for my birthday, and I can tell you that within less than maybe one and a half kilometres of where I was sleeping, you had bandits with camp in there… This is no joke. It’s a serious issue, and for us in Oyo State, they will never get any foothold here, and I will not sleep until every inch of Oyo State is free of bandits and bad guys.”
But Adams, in a statement made available to the media by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr Kehinde Aderemi, on Tuesday, called on Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Ademola Adeleke (Osun), Lucky Aiyedatiwa (Ondo), and Biodun Oyebamiji (Ekiti) not to take the alarm raised by their counterpart in Oyo State with levity. He charged them to be vigilant and put in place proper structures in securing the region.
According to Adams, the alarm raised by Governor Makinde was real and should be accorded urgent attention. He insisted that insecurity has been a major issue in the country, with the South West region becoming a new target for bandits and kidnappers.
The Yoruba generalissimo stated further that he had raised a similar alarm in the past, requesting the governors in the South West region to allow him to work with the states’ security architectures in order to get rid of bandits and kidnappers across the region.
“The alarm raised by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State was a wake-up call for all the governors in the South West. I raised a similar alarm last year and nothing was done, and it is sad that up to the present time nothing has really changed, except that insecurity is increasing by the day.
“South West Security Stakeholders Group (SSSG), including the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Agbekoya Society, Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), Professional Hunters, Vigilante Jahun, Agbekoya Peace Movement, Agbekoya Solidarity Movement, COMSAIC, Isokan Ile Oodua, Egbe Obinrin Oodua Agbaye, Omo Oduduwa United, and a few others under my leadership have been doing their very best in ensuring that the South West region is safe.
“But now that Governor Makinde has raised the alarm, there is a need for an urgent approach in order to address the situation before it gets out of hand.
“Oyo State is the political capital of the South West region, and anything that happens in the state, no doubt, has a direct effect on the entire region. So, I urge all the governors in the South West to be vigilant and do the needful by addressing the security situation in their respective states before it is too late.”
Adams, while restating the need for regional autonomy and state police, warned that the SSSG would not allow bandits and kidnappers to turn the South West into their foothold.
“We will resist any attempt to turn Yoruba land into bandits’ and kidnappers’ foothold,” Adams said.