The Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, and leaders of the South-West Security Stakeholders’ Group (SSSG), have tasked President Muhammadu Buhari, to, as a matter of urgency, address the rising spate of insecurity in the region.
The Yoruba leaders, at a meeting over the weekend convened by the Aare OnaKakanfo of Yorubaland, Otunba Gani Adams, said they were worried with the growing cases of insecurity in the region.
They said the meeting was convened with a view to working out lasting strategies and modalities to secure the region against killer herdsmen who have been ravaging states in the South-West.
The group also expressed its support to the South-West security network, code named Amotekun Corps, adding that the security outfit had done well in securing the region.
Otunba Adams, who is also the chairman and convener of the meeting, said the gathering was a wake-up call to all prominent stakeholders in Yorubaland in order to address the various security challenges in the region and further strengthen the safety of the people.
He added that the issue of insecurity is between life and death, and as such, must be addressed in the most strategic manner.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the group said:
“We shared the concern of the people in general and prominent Nigerians, especially about the security situation in the land. We are worried that the situation, if not addressed, signals a grievous national crisis.
“The statement of the Chief of Defence Staff of the nation calling on Nigerians to defend themselves was clearly an official endorsement of self-defence.
“We therefore call on the government to quickly arrest the apparent descent into anarchy. We align with the call of the governors of South-West that President Muhammadu Buhari should prove his innocence in the carnage being perpetrated by herders, by not only unambiguously condemning the nefarious acts, but also take clear steps to exterminate it.”
The Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, who was also part of the strategic meeting, said the group had the backing of Yoruba leaders including Pa Reuben Fasoranti and Pa Ayo Adebanjo, and other stakeholders in the Yoruba nation, adding that the “Yoruba nation would not fold its arms and allow killer herdsmen to send prominent sons and daughters of the race to their early graves.”
Odumakin faulted the political structure and arrangements in the country, saying a multinational state such as Nigeria must be built on respect for different human components making up the sovereign nation.
Also part of the meeting were representatives of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC), the Agbekoyas, Vigilante groups, Hunters, Comsaic, Egbe Isokan Oodua, and the Egbe Olode Ibarapa.
Apart from leaders of all the security groups in southwest, prominent leaders that were also present at the meeting were the Publicity Secretary of Yoruba Summit Group, Gbonka Gboyega Adejumo, Bashorun Akin Osuntokun, Ogbeni Sola Lawal and Chief Olumuyiwa Okunowo.
