Following incessant kidnapping, killings and insurgency
across many parts of the country, the Secretary of the Yoruba Council of Elders
(YCE), Dr. Kunle Olajide, has called for the overhaul of the Nigerian security
architecture.
This is coming as the former interim National
Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, has
asserted that some ‘selfish and greedy’ Yoruba leaders were responsible for the
retrogression and underdevelopment that the Yoruba race is witnessing
currently.
The YCE scribe said except the military service
chiefs, including the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Gabriel Olonisakin; the Chief
of Army Staff (COAS), Lt Gen Tukur Butatai, and others, are sacked, the country
would continue to witness myriads of crimes.
He suggested further that President Muhammadu
Buhari must restructure the country in line with advocacy for true federalism, adding
that the lopsidedness in the country's
structure was responsible for poverty among citizens thereby leading to upsurge of crimes.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti yesterday, Olajide advised
President Buhari to treat the alarm raised by Afenifere that the South-west
region has been allegedly taken over by killer herdsmen and other criminal
gangs with utmost attention.
He said Nigerians are helpless due to geometric
increase in the level of poverty and economic depression being witnessed
currently, adding that the populace shouldn't expect less crime rate under harsh and annihilating
condition.
According to the Yoruba leader, "The present
service chiefs started with President Buhari four years ago, still, they have
not been able to reduce insurgency in the North and kidnapping in the South.
"My opinion is that they have run out of ideas
and they should be sacked. They are fatigued already and have nothing more to
offer.
"The best for President Buhari is to bring in
fresh hands to manage our security architecture to prevent these killings and
other crimes."
On the alarm raised by Afenifere that the South-west
region is no longer safe, the YCE leader said: "I don't share the view of
Fulanisation or Islamisation agenda, but Nigeria has become the world capital of
poverty displacing India, so we should expect crime to soar.
"In Nigeria, the poverty level is high in the North
because the area is troubled. But these herdsmen and other bandits are moving
down South and they see the Southwest as a fertile land where they can make
millions through kidnapping and ritual killings.
"So, the threat is real and what I expect the federal
government to do is to put security on red alert and be proactive.
"The six governors in the region should
mobilise the traditional rulers, the youth groups and other interested bodies
to work with the military, police and NSCDC through a Joint Task Force (JTF)
and allied means to comb all the suspected forests to dislodge these criminals
from their hideouts.”
He further said: " I want to applaud the president
for coming out boldly to align himself with the fact that the country needs
true federalism, and this will help in solving some of these inevitable challenges
lopsided structures had caused in our system."
Meanwhile, APC chieftain, Akande, has asserted that
some ‘selfish and greedy’ Yoruba leaders were responsible for the retrogression
and underdevelopment that the Yoruba race is witnessing currently.
Akande buttressed his assertion by stating that
some western leaders in military uniforms collaborated with the North to
destabilise the Yoruba political strength, marginalise its people and seize
their common patrimonies like University of Ife, the Western Nigerian Television
and the Liberty Stadium.
The former governor of Osun State stated these at
the weekend during the unveiling of Karele Oodua Logo and Investiture of Karele
Oodua Ambassadors organised by the state Ministry of Home Affairs, Culture and
Tourism.
According to Akande, the selfish Yoruba leaders
also took part in annulling the June 12, 1993, presidential election won by
Chief MKO Abiola.
He noted that at the beginning of the current
republic, the same leaders, for greed reason and self-aggrandisement, cringed
to the North and the East for political influence to continue to depress and
degrade the authentic aspirations of the Yoruba people with a sermon that the
Yoruba should join the mainstream politics of Nigeria.
Akande noted that the consequence of the actions of
these Yoruba leaders in connivance with their northern and eastern counterparts
metamorphosed into the disunity of the country and the promotion of religious
conflict which resulted in the migration of the Yoruba people to the diaspora.
The Asiwaju of Ila-Orangun posited that the action and
inactions of the selfish leaders has put the nation into a situation of
economic imbroglio and massive exploitation of the nation’s commonwealth.
In his remark, the state Governor, Mr Gboyega Oyetola, who
was represented by his Deputy, Mr. Gboyega Alabi, said the motive of Karele
Oodua is to preserve the rich Yoruba culture and boost the tourism potential of
the state.
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