President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday met separately with the Oyo State Governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde; his Ondo State counterpart, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja II, on how to improve security in the South-west.
While Akeredolu did not speak to journalists after his meeting with Buhari, Makinde said he came to brief the president on the security situation in Oyo State.
The meetings held against the backdrop of the tension generated by ultimata given renegade herdsmen to quit Oyo and Ondo States.
Makinde said: “I also used the occasion to ask for more mobile police squadrons as against the only two operating in a state that is bigger than the entire South-east zone.
“There has been a lot of fake news all around and I wanted to be sure that Mr. President clearly has first-hand information from me, which I did. We also exchanged ideas on 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.”
On the specific issues he discussed with the president, the governor said: “Well, one of the issues I discussed with Mr. President is that Oyo State land mass is quite big, Oyo State is close to 29,000 square kilometres. If you take all the states in the South-east geopolitical zone of Nigeria, they are still not as big as Oyo State. And the state right now only has two mobile police squadrons.
“So, I requested for more mobile police squadrons to be deployed in Oyo State and also ask 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.”
When asked about his disagreement with activist, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, on the ultimatum for Fulani to leave Oyo State, the governor said: “Well, we have a history of living together peacefully amongst all the ethnic groups that are present in Oyo State.
“For instance, what triggered all of this was that Dr. Aborede was brutally murdered; that is criminal, but on the other hand, Seriki, Alhaji Kabir has been staying in that same place for 40 years.”
The Ooni, after the meeting with Buhari, also called on the two main political parties, All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), not to politicise the issues of security.
On why he came to see Buhari, Oba Adeyeye said: “Well to the glory of God, I am here particularly because of all the issues of security threat here and there and to get the blessing of Mr. President. Hopefully, it won’t turn out to be very political because political parties might probably want to hijack it and to the glory of God as the Co-chairman of National Council of Traditional Rulers, it is our responsibility and our duty to make sure that everything is right, all and sundry is in good shape.”
He hailed the president for giving the assurance that the security situation will not be politicised.
“The president has assured us that it is not going to be a political thing because we all know the problem all over the country, we have a lot of bad eggs that mix across the entire country and we having that issue again in the South-west,” he stated.
He added that he was happy that Buhari told him to assure other traditional rulers that the government must work with them now.
“It is very important for us to work very closely with the government so that we can separate the good, the bad and the ugly. It is very important for us to separate the wheat from the chaff because a lot of them are actually using the porous border that we have but to the glory of God they are doing what is called e-border now in Nigeria and it is very efficient and we all need to work with them.
“So, the objective is politics shouldn’t be mixed with the safety and the security concerns of our people. Politics should be completely taken out of it and to the glory of God, Mr. President said he is fully on board with us as traditional rulers,” he said.
The Ooni welcomed the appointment of new service chiefs, saying with new hands on board, fresh ideas will be generated in combating insecurity.
On the reported tension in South-west over conflict between herders and their host communities, the monarch said it was time to separate the good eggs from the bad eggs without politics.
“The best way forward that is critical is to separate the bad eggs from the good eggs and take politics out of it. We don’t want any politics to be mingled with it. We, the traditional rulers, we know the good, the bad and the ugly in our domains. So, it is a very clear strategy. Those bad eggs we want to fish them out. Politics is different from taking out the bad eggs from the good eggs and it is the blessing of Mr. President we have come for.
So, any time we are sensing politics, we the traditional rulers we have to cry out, so that is the object why I am here,” he said.