Yoruba Obas push for state police, traditional means to solve South-West's insecurity

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Traditional rulers in the South-West are pushing for traditional powers and state police to combat insecurity in the region.

This position was the outcome of their summit held on Thursday at Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The summit was attended by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; the Olowo of Owo, Oba Ajibade Ogunoye III; Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Victor Kiladejo; the Deji of Akure, Aladetoyinbo Adedelusi; Owa Ajero of Ijero-Ekiti, Oba Joseph Adewole; Akarigbo of Remoland, Oba Babatunde Ajayi; Olowu of Owu, Oragun of Oke-Ila, Oludo of Ido-Osun, Aragbiji of Iragbiji and other Yoruba traditional rulers.

A communique at the end of the summit signed on behalf of the others by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; Akarigbo of Remo, Oba Adewale Ajayi and four other monarchs, condemned the attacks by criminal herdsmen in the bush in the South-West.

The monarchs believe the attacks were responsible for food insecurity and scarcity in the South-West.

The communique said: “That the Yoruba, especially the traditional rulers should make recourse to their natural resources including natural powers to combat banditry and kidnapping; that Yoruba Obas should not jettison traditional values.

“That government at all levels should recognize the roles of traditional rulers and factor them into the national security architecture.

“That the entire Obas in Yorubaland should work in unison to ward off the evils of banditry and kidnappings as each of the states could only succeed in chasing the marauders to another state.

“That any Oba, who is disinterested in Yoruba culture and custom, should abdicate his throne, for anyone who is deeply versed and interested in Yoruba traditions.

“That each time an attack took place, the offenders were quickly left off the hook by the powers that be and that the judicial process should be strengthened to mete out appropriate punishments to culprits or bring them to justice.”

Some of the traditional rulers who spoke at the event also harped on the need for the establishment of state police. They called on the Federal Government to expedite action on the creation of state police.

The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams in his keynote address at the summit called for cooperation among the Yoruba monarchs to tackle insecurity in the southwest.

Adams said: “This summit is a welcome development, I implore Yoruba traditional rulers to put pressure on the state governors in the region to engage local security groups to succeed in the fight against intruders in forest across Yorubaland.

“We must also collectively make case for true federalism where proper federal structure with adequate security measures would be put in place to allow for effective and adequate policing of the region.”