Oyo State Governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde, on Sunday, visited the troubled Ibarapa area of Oyo state where he met with selected stakeholders, local government chairpersons, and political office holders from the zone.
Makinde told the residents that the problems of the people are his problems.
The Ibarapa area of Oyo State has been in the news in recent times after a Yoruba activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho gave Fulani herdsmen in the area a 7-day ultimatum to leave.
The governor stated this while speaking in Igbo Ora, saying he feels the pains of the people of the area and that the visit would enable him to find lasting solutions to the lingering insecurity issues in the area.
In a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, made available to Vanguard, Makinde was quoted as saying these while addressing council chairpersons and political office holders from Ibarapa Central, Ibarapa East, and Ibarapa North, in Igbo Ora, late on Sunday.
He stated that the state has approved the setting up of the Peace and Security Committee at the local government levels, adding that the state government would put in place other security measures to ensure peace in the area.
He said: “The take-home from the interaction for me is that it is a collective problem and I can see the commitment from everybody to find a solution to this.
“And, at least, I am quite glad that some of the initiatives that the government is trying to put in place to stem insecurity are coming to fruition.
He also disclosed that the government had directed the immediate take-off of an identity management program to enable it to know who is who in the communities.
“We will ensure that our identity management program takes off as quickly as possible. We will also ensure the setting up of peace and security committee that is all-encompassing in the councils.”
The governor also urged political office holders to always call the attention of the government to the happenings within their localities, saying that he decided to sleep over in Ibarapa to feel the pulse of the people.
According to the governor, he cannot sleep with two eyes closed in Ibadan if the people of Ibarapa are unable to sleep with two eyes closed.
He added that the problems of insecurity in Ibarapaland needed to be tackled collectively.
The statement added that the governor commiserated with the families that have lost loved ones to the insecurity situation, saying: “So, this is also to let people know that I feel their pain because I have had a very close interaction with Dr. Fatai Aborode in the past. I commiserate with his family and many others who have lost loved ones to this situation.
“I feel the pain and I believe that with everybody coming together, we will be able to tackle the problem.
“Also, political office holders need to know that when they see something, they have to say something.”
On the enforcement of anti-grazing law, the governor declared that such is an area where state police would have helped.
He said: “Quite frankly, the governors are at the mercy of federal security agencies to implement certain laws.
“That was why we asked for State Police. In the first instance, it is a constitutional issue and, in the absence of having that, governors in the South West came together and formed Amotekun as a stop-gap.
“Problems don’t go away completely. But you have to keep working at it; keep pushing to get to where you really want to be and that is what we will keep doing.
“But the law is there, though the implementation has not been smooth, we will keep working at it.”
On the deployment of additional Amotekun operatives, the governor said: “The 200 Amotekun Corps have been deployed. They are here and we are also supporting them with logistics by bringing four additional operational vehicles for them.”
The meeting had in attendance the speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon.’Debo Ogundoyin, Commissioners, Chairmen and members of Boards and Parastatals, members of the State House of Assembly, and all the political appointees from Ibarapa zone.
