….Students' Group wants S’west Govs to deal with insecurity
Following the killing of Mrs. Funke Olukunri, the
daughter of Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye
Ogunwusi, has restated that the South-west will no longer tolerate any form of
carnage by suspected herdsmen.
This is coming as the apex Igbo socio-cultural
organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, yesterday in Enugu lamented that the gruesome
murder of Olukunri, daughter of Fasoranti, has the capacity of plunging the
country into uncontrollable breakdown of law and order.
Also, the vice presidential candidate of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23 presidential election, Mr.
Peter Obi, has said the senseless bloodletting in the country is clearly
getting out of hand.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Ekiti State Students
Union has also decried the spate of killings and other violent crimes in the
country, saying enough is enough, and that the time to act is now.
The Ife monarch had earlier given a similar warning
in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, last week during a stakeholders' meeting to
ruminate on the level of insecurity in the South-west region.
The Ooni said it was time the region united and
defended itself against bandits, who are now killing people.
Oba Ogunwusi stated this in Kota Ekiti, Ekiti East
Local Government Area of Ekiti State at the Thanksgiving ceremony of a member
of the House of Representatives representing Ekiti South federal constituency
2, Hon. Olufemi Bamisile.
The traditional ruler said the Yoruba people could
no longer fold their arms and allow their people to be killed.
He called on the Yoruba people to be united at this
time and protect their territory.
"I call on all the people of Yoruba race at
this time to be united. The time has come to end this killing. These killings
must end, enough is enough!" Ooni said.
Also in his sermon, Reverend Emmanuel Abejide of
Methodist Church of Nigeria, Ekiti State, declared that the current security
situation in the country was unfortunate.
He warned that unless the leaders put their
thinking cap, things might get worse.
Bamisile, on his part, said the various
stakeholders in the Southwest are already talking, adding that the region would
defend itself appropriately.
According to him, "The death of Pa
Fashoranti's daughter is one of the greatest mistakes that ever happened in the
Southwest. With the step that we are taking, we are moving ahead to stop the
killings.”
Reacting to the mindless murder of Mrs. Olakunrin, former
Governor of Anambra State, Obi, in a statement by his media office, said Nigerians
of all spheres are losing their safety cheaply.
Obi, who had already called the father of the
deceased to condole with him, said the value of life in the country is
diminishing everyday, adding that that should worry every discerning mind.
The former governor, who prayed for the repose of
the souls of all who lost their lives in the senseless killings either from
herdsmen or armed robbers, challenged relevant authorities to stem ‘these
frightening’ tides.
On its part, Ohanaeze said the gruesome murder of Olukunri
had the capacity of plunging the country into uncontrollable breakdown of law
and order.
The organisation warned that the continuous
rampaging, plunder, rape, kidnapping and murder of innocent Nigerians allegedly
by armed Fulani herdsmen have climbed to a most worrisome crescendo.
The President General of the organisation, Chief
Nnia Nwodo, who conveyed the Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s position in a statement made
available to journalists in Enugu, also stressed the need for the convocation
of a security summit to quickly find a way out of the security challenge
confronting the country.
The organisation also noted that the hasty
conclusion by the federal government that she was killed by armed robbers and
not suspected herdsmen, who are known to have laid siege on all parts of the
country perpetrating acts of banditry and killings, further exacerbates the
already tense situation.
“We offer Chief Fasoranti and the entire Yoruba the
heartfelt sympathies of Ndigbo,” he said.
He noted further that the organisation regretted
the inability of security forces to disarm and prosecute these criminals,
insisting that it gives credibility to a growing story of collusion between the
forces and the herdsmen.
“Recently, the British High Commission, in an
advisory to British citizens in Nigeria, declared 24 of our states unsafe.
“In the midst of these killings, their parent
organisation has the effrontery to give ultimatums to the President of Nigeria
to rescind his unpopular suspension, instead of cancelation of his RUGA
development policy,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Ekiti State Students’
Union has decried the spate of killings and other violent crimes in the
country, saying ‘enough is enough’ and that the time to act is now.
In a statement issued by its National Senate
President, Kolade Ifeoluwa, in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, the group said that
government should without further delay do what was necessary to deal with
insecurity in the country.
”The safety of citizens of this country should be
placed above any other issue,” the group stated.
The students were reacting to the killing of Olakunrin
last Friday.
It described her murder by yet-to-be identified
gunmen as one too many, saying the incident reflects the seriousness of the
insecurity in the country, especially in the South-west region.
The students’ group therefore asked the Southwest
governors and the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Gani Adams, to stand up for
the region before the situation gets out of hand.
“We are being made to see the situation and having
the impression that the government is incompetent, and area saying with a
bleeding heart that the problem is unacceptable to us and Nigerian students in
general.
“We are therefore calling on the government at all
levels to wake up and urgently take action to protect lives and property in the
country,’’ the group stated.
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