Makinde meets Buhari over Oyo’s security challenges

The Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Wednesday, met with President Muhammadu Buhari over the security challenges rocking the south-west state.

Mr Makinde met with Mr Buhari in Aso Rock, Abuja, to explain the activities of bandits, hoodlums, armed robbers and kidnappers in the state.

Speaking with the State House Correspondents, Mr Makinde said he reached out to the president for greater synergy between the state and the federal security agencies.

The details of the meeting were made known to PREMIUM TIMES in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Taiwo Adisa.

He quoted Mr Makinde to have said that he came to brief the president on the security situation in Oyo State.

“There has been a lot of fake news all around and I wanted to be sure that the President clearly has first-hand information from me, which I did.”

“We also exchanged ideas about what we need to do better; some of the programmes we have put in place to ensure that this security issue is tackled. So, that’s basically why I came here.

“The issue that I discussed with Mr President is the fact that Oyo State landmass is quite big. Oyo State is close to 29,000 square kilometres. And the state right now only has two Mobile Police Squadrons.”

“So, I requested for more Mobile Police Squadrons to be deployed to Oyo State and also asked for support for the joint security outfit because the underlying issue here also has to do with limited opportunities. The tension will definitely go down if a lot of our youths are gainfully employed. So, I briefed the President on what we are doing in that regard.”

On Wednesday, Mr Makinde also announced the government was deploying 200 additional Amotekun operatives to tackle the insecurity around the Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa axes in the state.

In his meeting with the president, Mr Makinde noted that the ethnic groups in Oyo State have a history of living together peacefully.

“For instance, what triggered all of these was that Dr. Aborode was brutally murdered; that is criminal. But on the other hand, the Seriki, Alhaji Kabir, has been staying in that same place for 40 years. So, quite frankly, the people we are after are criminals – they are the bandits, hoodlums, armed robbers, kidnappers. Those are the true enemies of the state and those are the people we will go after.

“The Constitution of Nigeria guarantees that you can live in any part of Nigeria. You just have to be law-abiding and obey the local laws in such areas. That is what we are pushing and will continue to push as a government”, Mr Makinde was quoted by his press secretary.