The command’s Public Relations Officer, Olusola Ayanlade, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Akure, the state capital.

According to him, the operation began at about 5:30am following a distress call that a couple, identified as Mr. David and his wife, residents of Akure, had been kidnapped in their farm hut located along the Ondo–Ekiti border at Odeigede Camp.

Ayanlade said, “Acting swiftly on the information, the Commissioner of Police immediately directed that all operational assets must and should be deployed to ensure the safe rescue of the victims.”

He explained that operatives from the Iju–Itaogbolu Division and the State Anti-Kidnapping Squad, in collaboration with vigilant youths in the area, advanced deep into the forest in pursuit of the hoodlums.

“As the pressure from the combined team intensified, the suspected kidnappers abandoned the victims,” the PPRO added.

He noted that the male victim sustained machete cuts but managed to flee with his wife before operatives rescued them.

Ayanlade said one suspect was later arrested in a hut, where several items were recovered.

Items recovered include a Samsung Note 10 mobile phone, a sword and a broken bottle.

“The suspect has since been cooperating with investigators and giving useful information, aiding ongoing efforts to apprehend the fleeing accomplice(s). All recovered exhibits have been handed over to SAKS for further investigation,” the statement added.

The post Couple Rescued As Police Arrest Suspected Kidnapper In Ondo first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post Couple Rescued As Police Arrest Suspected Kidnapper In Ondo appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

Bandits have invaded the Isapa community in the Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, abducting 11 residents, including a pregnant woman, two nursing mothers, and several young children.

The attackers, said to be more than 20, reportedly stormed the quiet community on Monday with a large herd of cattle, shooting indiscriminately as villagers fled in panic. An elderly woman was hit by a stray bullet during the assault.

According to Channels TV reports, a community leader, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal, confirmed that 11 persons were taken away by the assailants. He noted that seven of the victims were members of the same family.

The abducted residents were identified as: Talatu Kabiru (20), Magaji (6), Kande (5), Hadiza (10), Mariam (6), Saima (5), a housewife identified as Habibat, another housewife named Fatima Yusufu who is pregnant, Sarah Sunday (22), Lami Fidelis (23, a nursing mother), and a nursing mother identified as Haja Na Allah.

Eyewitnesses said the bandits moved from one section of the town to another, leaving bullet holes in walls, windows, and doors. Spent AK-47 shells were also found scattered across the community after the gang retreated with their captives.

As of the time of filing this report, the Kwara State Police Command had yet to release an official statement regarding the attack.

Monday’s incident comes barely two weeks after gunmen struck the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in Eruku, also in Ekiti LGA, kidnapping 38 worshippers. Some victims reportedly died during the assault, although those abducted were later released.

The post Bandits Storm Kwara Community, Abduct 11 — Pregnant Woman, Nursing Mothers Taken first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post Bandits Storm Kwara Community, Abduct 11 — Pregnant Woman, Nursing Mothers Taken appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

Odey, who spoke on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme on Thursday, monitored by Mega Icon Magazine, described the experience as “horrible and unimaginable.”

The comedian said he was kidnapped on April 18, 2025, alongside 23 other passengers when armed men attacked their boat.

“They fired gunshots, and a large boat collided with ours. They transferred us into another boat and drove us for about 40 minutes to an unknown location,” he said.

While others kidnapped with him were released earlier, Odey said his ordeal lasted longer because of the military uniform he wore at the time of the attack.

“We were beaten, starved, and prohibited from looking at their faces. If you mistakenly looked, you would be hit,” he recounted.

Odey said the hideout resembled a creek community where the abductors lived with their families. “They played loud music, shot into the air, and sometimes moved us to areas where network service was available to contact our families for ransom,” he added.

The comedian noted that he was only allowed to speak with his wife twice throughout his captivity — a week after the incident and on the day of his release.

According to him, his family paid ransom in two installments amounting to about N8m.

“The first installment was over N3m, but when it was paid, they refused to release me. They demanded more. My family eventually paid up to N8m before I was freed,” he said.

Odey also disclosed that the kidnappers became suspicious after discovering that his family was working with a security agency to track them, which prompted the demand for additional payment.

The post Comedian, General Odey, recounts 50-day ordeal in kidnappers’ den first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post Comedian, General Odey, recounts 50-day ordeal in kidnappers’ den appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

In a daring operation, gunmen have kidnapped a senior official of the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue.

The victim, identified as Aribibia Fubara, was abducted on Saturday at the Okrika Waterfront near the Marine Base in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

Eyewitnesses reported that the assailants, numbering about six, stormed the area in a speedboat.

They fired gunshots into the air, creating panic and dispersing bystanders, before whisking away their target. The incident appeared to be a well-coordinated and pre-planned operation.

As of the time of this report, it remains unclear if the kidnappers have contacted Fubara’s family to demand a ransom.

Confirming the incident, the spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, said, “The command is aware of the incident, and the CP (Commissioner of Police, Tunji Disu) has directed tactical units in the command to ensure that the victim is released unhurt. A manhunt has been launched to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to book.”

The post Rivers Revenue Director Kidnapped first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post Rivers Revenue Director Kidnapped appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

In a statement issued on Saturday by the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, the victims were rescued on Friday by the office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

The operation, which took place in the Ntunkon forest of Ado Local Government Area, was reportedly executed without the payment of any ransom.

According to sources, the rescue mission involved the deployment of three helicopters. During the operation, several suspects were arrested, and others were neutralised.

The abductees, which included medical students and their accompanying doctors, were kidnapped on Thursday, August 15, while en route to a medical convention. The abduction sparked widespread outrage across the country, with many Nigerians expressing deep concern over the increasing rate of kidnappings.

In his statement, Adejobi emphasised, “No ransom was paid. Contrary to some tweets and unconfirmed stories suggesting that money was exchanged, not a single kobo was paid for their release. They were rescued through a tactical and professional operation.”

He went on to commend the security agencies, local communities, and the ONSA for their dedication and resilience in ensuring the safe return of the victims.

The kidnappers had earlier contacted the families of the hostages, demanding a ransom of ₦50 million to secure their release. However, the swift and effective intervention by the security forces ensured that the victims were freed unharmed.

The post 20 Medical Students, Others Abducted in Benue Released Without Ransom — Police first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post 20 Medical Students, Others Abducted in Benue Released Without Ransom — Police appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

The targeted abduction occurred as the group, comprising pupils and educators, was traveling in a school bus. Authorities report that the assailants seized six pupils, three teachers, and the driver during the harrowing incident.

In the aftermath of the abduction, the Ekiti State Government issued a statement expressing deep concern over the incident. Despite the grave nature of the situation, the government has assured residents that every possible measure is being taken to ensure the safe rescue of the victims.

“The Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji has urged the citizens of the state not to despair over Monday’s kidnapping of some school pupils and their teachers in Emure- Ekiti, assuring that efforts are on to get the children and their teachers rescued,” the Tuesday statement from the Ekiti State Government read.

The statement further quoted Governor Biodun Oyebanji, condemning the kidnapping as callous and unacceptable. He asserted that no effort would be spared in the mission to secure the rescue of the victims.

The Ekiti Government said “security agencies in the state are already on the trail of the abductors with a mandate to bring the pupils and their teachers back safely.

“Governor Oyebanji said security is being stepped up across the state to flush out criminal elements from their hideouts,” it added.

“While calling on the citizens to remain calm and vigilant, he urged them to cooperate with security agencies, by making available relevant information to the authorities.”

The post Ekiti Govt. Vows to Rescue Abducted Pupils, Teachers, Condemns Act as Unacceptable first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post Ekiti Govt. Vows to Rescue Abducted Pupils, Teachers, Condemns Act as Unacceptable appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

Last week, though not racing on horses nor does it have anything in similarity with buffalos, calamity swiftly walked into the capital of Oyo state and like Odolaye aptly dissected it, it was sudden. It came with its handmaidens – weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Residents of Bodija, Ibadan, suddenly heard a late evening loud bang which reverberated around many parts of the ancient city. By the time the bang settled, lives had been lost, property destroyed and Ibadan suddenly became an epicentre of bad New Year news. Buildings were reduced to rubble, vehicles destroyed and a yet-to-be-ascertained number of people killed by the explosion.

Preliminary investigation found out that this calamity was the handiwork of some Malian miners who lived there. They had allegedly brought in high-level dynamite into a human neighbourhood. As at the time of writing this, official sources put the number of dead at five while excavation of bodies was still being done. One of the dead was said to be a United Kingdom returnee who met his untimely death while visiting. Mining activities have become harbingers of “eemo” in Nigeria’s lucrative mining fields, Zamfara state being an earlier example. In this state, foreigners perch on gold sites like bees on nectar with its attendant incubation of banditry.

Still on the sneaky bang of calamities, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, also witnessed an implosion in the number of kidnapped persons. From January 2021 to June 30, 2023, 40 kidnap cases were said to have been recorded in the FCT, with heart-wrenching 236 victims. The modus operandi of the kidnappers has today witnessed a mutation. Before now, waylaying commuters on the highway and ferrying them into the bush to demand ransom was the style. Today, under President Bola Tinubu, kidnappers have gone haywire. They are daring and disrespectful of Abuja as Nigeria’s seat of government. So, kidnappers boldly walk into people’s homes to cart away their victims without batting an eyelid.

Nigeria is under the siege of bandits who have terrorised the country non-stop, castrating the government’s expected proactive interventions and reducing successive governments to, in the words of Yakubu Dogara, mourners-in-chief. On the Abuja–Kaduna highway last week, about 30 people were said to have been abducted at Dogon-Fili near Katari, along the Kaduna-Abuja highway in Kachia local government area of Kaduna state. Eleven other persons were kidnapped in the Dutse-Alhaji area of the FCT, Abuja. Those who dispensed “eemo” to these fellow Nigerians and their families were gunmen dressed in the camouflage of military men, while the kidnappers dressed like herders.

The most pathetic and tear-jerking narration from the Dutse-Alhaji kidnap came from Oladosu Ariyo, lawyer and father of a slain 13-year-old. In an SOS that brimmed with frustration, pain and sorrow, Ariyo wrote to the Nigerian Bar Association to narrate the calamity that suddenly walked into his dwelling place. He narrated how the band of kidnappers invaded Sagwari Layout Estate in Dutse and kidnapped his lawyer wife and four children. They promptly demanded N60 million ransom. Being able to pay only a small percentage of the ransom, the kidnappers killed his firstborn and dumped the corpse on Kaduna Road. They threatened to kill the three other minor children and his wife if the whole ransom was not paid. They were said to have so far killed three of the eleven residents of the Sagwari Estate Layout in the Dutsen-Alhaji area they abducted.

The most immediate issue that the kidnaps evoke, bringing to the fore, is the disconcerting reality that kidnappings have gone outside the grips of the Nigerian government. Often orchestrated by persons who don military uniforms and inflict havoc recklessly for hours on citizens, this calamity has persisted since the Muhammadu Buhari government. It was often followed by official denials, especially during the Buhari era. That government was a seeming legitimisation of the infliction of violence and death on the people. States that border and surround the FCT like Niger, Kogi, Nasarawa and Plateau states had been hotbeds of kidnaps and wanton killings since the Buhari government. In saner climes and environments, this proximity is enough indication and foretell of imminent preying on the FCT by the bloodthirsty hounds called kidnappers and bandits. For a proactive and sensitive national security apparatus, a mechanism to arrest the imminent descent on Abuja ought to be on the drawing board, even before they struck. Unfortunately, in Abuja, unlike many civilised cities of the world, there are no statistics of ingress and egress into and outside the national capital. In the same vein, the census of landlords who live in the various suburbs of the city remains an illusion.

The issue of absence of governance is the cause of the spike in insecurity in Abuja and other parts of Nigeria. If you bore a hole through it, you will find corruption as well. There is also no doubting the fact that national security inertia juts out as a core issue in the Ibadan blast. Why would such destructive dynamite pass through the cordon of security agencies to wreak such havoc? Apart from those issues, existential matters are also trapped in the spate of kidnappings in Abuja and the blast in Ibadan. The existential issues come in rhetorical questions. Why must it be Oladosu Ariyo and his family who were abducted that night at Dutsen-Alhaji and not other families? Why was the UK returnee who met his untimely death in the Ibadan blast the one who must die? Why didn’t he delay his journey by some days, to arrive in Ibadan after the blast? Why did that calamity zero in on those who died? Why was Bodija the scene where the dynamites must explode and not elsewhere? These are questions that have defied satisfactory answers to humanity, science and religion. They have been asked consistently since the beginning of creation.

The above questions have procreated a set of people called fatalists who believe that human beings are helpless about the future, as well as the fortune or calamities that come to them. In Yoruba epistemology, this fatality is expressed as “ayanmo” or predestination. Its similar variant is “Kadara,” which is strictly identical to destiny. Kadara is woven around the concept of ‘Ori’ or the bearer of one’s destiny. The third of the tripod is called “Akosile” which holds that every individual’s destiny, as well as all that will happen to them in their life journey, are already written down in heaven before human beings begin to journey down to earth. An affirmation of this is mirrored in the saying “Ori yeye ni Mogun, ipin aise lo po,” which translates to mean, among the dry skulls at the Mogun shrine are many innocent heads.

The “Ori yeye…” narration, best explained by an anecdote said to have taken place a long time ago, apparently in pre-colonial Yoruba, has a few other slants different from the one below. The king of a town called Otolu had his trumpet called Kakaki stolen by persons he couldn’t fathom. The trumpet was a monarchical insignia used during ancestral festivals and was blown to announce the imminence of the festival. Upon the disappearance of the trumpet, Oba Otolu summoned his 17 servants for an explanation on the missing ancestral trumpet. Each swore his innocence but, miffed, literally spitting fire from his mouth like Sango, the king ordered the servants to be beheaded by the Ogun shrine. A few months after their decapitation, an Oba Otolu king friend in the neighbouring town apprehended two of his aides who had the trumpet and sent them to the Otolu king. Upon interrogation, they confessed that the heir to the Otolu throne, the king’s son, had handed it over to them. The king then ordered the beheading of the prince and the two culprits. As they were about to be decapitated at the Ogun shrine, pensive, the Otolu king muttered, pained about the shedding of innocent people’s blood thus, “See the number of heads of innocent persons we wrongly beheaded at the Mogun shrine!” The king was said to have committed suicide upon arriving at the palace.

So, were those 17 palace servants fated to be beheaded by the Orolu king? Was it their “ayanmo” (destiny) to die such gory, painful deaths? The Yoruba concept of the human person believes every human being has an ayanmo which can be positively or negatively manipulated by the nature of the head (Ori) that the person brought into this world. Thus, if an ayanmo is lopsided, failing in efforts, the Ori can help restructure the person’s destiny. This is why they say destiny has no remedy but Ori is the judge, “ayanmo o gb’ogun, ori l’elejo.”

Destiny, as articulated by Professor Segun Gbadegesin in his “Eniyan: The Yoruba Concept of a Person” in The African Philosopher Reader, edited by P.H Coetzee and A. P Roux., Routledge (New York, 1998) P.144, is “pre-ordained portion of life wound and sealed up on Ori”. According to him, “Human beings have an allotment of… destiny which determines the general course of life”. Bolaji Idowu, however, sees the Ori as a complete human personality who came before Olodumare (God) shortly before departing for this world. The human knelt before Him for allotment of his destiny and was open to what is called a “trimorphous conception of destiny”. This is in three and they are, Akunleyan (destiny got when kneeling to choose); Akunlegba (destiny got when kneeling to receive) and Ayanmo (irrevocably stamped on the person).

Some of these beliefs, made into proverbs, aphorisms, mores and lore are predicated on predestination. For instance, an ancient wise saying says that a tree will not fall in the forest and kill one who sits at home; and the rafter will not fall and kill the wayfarer (igi o ni da, k’o pa’ra ile; aja o ni jin k’o pa ero ona). Almost in line with this epistemology are the teachings of the two dominant religions, Christianity and Islam. They also believe that human beings are destined for some of the fates that befall them. However, as architects of their fates, human beings can tinker with their destinies through the worship of God. The third leg of this belief system is a doctrine called fatalism. Held by fatalists, they believe, without recourse to theology, that human beings are powerless to tinker with their future. They also hold that anything that happens to human beings is not within their human remit to change.

Many people have tried to examine why African leaders seem to cavalierly allow calamities to befall their people rather than taking proactive measures to ensure that they do not occur. I tend to think that this thinking by governments is an outcome of a very injurious but longstanding romance with theological submissions about calamities, as well as traditional Africa’s explanation of predestination. Data have proven that the more religiously or traditionally inclined government runners are, the sloppy it becomes for them to do the needful in safeguarding the lives of their people. The Buhari government, for instance, was so steeped in this belief in the God-ordained nature of human calamities that it firmed out the most important of its governmental responsibilities to God. Most times, it called on God to help it attack its attackers which is downright senseless.

Many events that happen in this modern age perforate some of the traditional African theses we have held for centuries. The Ibadan dynamite blast of last Tuesday is one. Contrary to a saying cited above, trees are now falling in the forest and killing people who sit in their homes; and rafters are falling, killing wayfarers in the process. The Ibadan blast attests to these. If the Tinubu government will not follow the footsteps of Buhari’s administration and thus be less fatalistic in its security architecture master plan, it should not be rocket science to exterminate kidnappers and be victorious over the menace of kidnapping. It is penny-wise pound-foolish to remove subsidy on petrol, with its attendant hardships on the people, then extend national pain by yawning while insecurity takes over the national capital. The truth is, if the FCT could be this unsafe, with information of its porosity to evildoers available all over the world, no investor would come to Nigeria.

Tinubu must urgently reduce the frequency of calamities in Nigeria by tackling insecurity frontally. By doing this, he will be redrawing the map of the sneakiness of calamities in Nigeria. Above all, he will render Odolaye Aremu’s thesis on calamity (eemo) and its suddenness (peki) irrelevant.

The post Ibadan blast, Abuja kidnaps and calamities first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post Ibadan blast, Abuja kidnaps and calamities appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

Governor Makinde, who was speaking at different spots in Ibarapaland where he engaged the people in town hall meetings, promised that his administration will get the criminals to account for their heinous acts in the state.

He also declared that the state could not afford to lose any more lives to insecurity, stating, however, that any action that must be taken must be guided by the realisation that a wrong solution must not be proffered in order to avoid unintended consequences.

According to the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, in a statement issued on Monday, the governor stated these in Ibarapaland during meetings at Idere, Igangan and visits to the homes of the late Dr. Fatai Aborode and others who lost their lives to the crisis in the area.

Governor Makinde, who equally commiserated with Mrs. Idowu Babarinde, who lost a child to indiscriminate shooting by kidnappers in their attempt to kidnap a filling station owner in Idere, said he was pained by the losses recorded in the area, adding that he felt the pain of the people of Ibarapaland.

“I decided to spend the night in Ibarapaland so as to let you know that if my people in this place cannot sleep with two eyes closed, I cannot also sleep with my two eyes closed in Ibadan,” the governor said, adding that the visit afforded him the opportunity of feeling the pains of the people first-hand.
He said: “We are turning the heat on the criminal elements and we will surely get them.”

He stated that the government will compensate victims of the insecurity situation in Ibarapaland, adding that measures that the government is taking to curtail the situation include the setting up of an all-inclusive peace and security committee at the local government levels and the stepping up intelligence gathering in the area.

“One of the things we want to do is, we must have a peace and security committee at the local government level, which will be all-encompassing. “Those people that are supposed to be there and can contribute meaningfully must be accommodated.

“So, I have listened to you. I came here purposely to sleep over to demonstrate that your problem is also my problem. If you cannot sleep with your two eyes closed, I also have no business sleeping with my two eyes closed in Ibadan.”

He further stated that the government will convene a meeting with traditional rulers in Ibarapaland in the next few days with a view to coming up with recommendations on the situation, warning that emergency situations as such should have been brought to the attention of the government long before it escalated.

Governor Makinde, who clarified that though he was misunderstood for the position he took during the crisis, he is not afraid to speak out but that he would not allow anyone to start ethnic war under his watch.

He added that the failure of communication, intelligence gathering and other factors led to the escalation of the crisis in the area and that though his government would take responsibility for some of the challenges, security challenges cannot be solved in one day.

The governor warned political office holders, community leaders and stakeholders in the area to treat emergency situations as sensitive and bring such to the attention of government on time, stating that claims that  letters were written to him were faulty.

He told political leaders of the area not to shy away from seeking audience with him wherever there is a gap that must be bridged.

He added that apart from the immediate deployment of 200 additional Amotekun Corps to Ibarapaland, he has also instructed that the agency and other security apparatuses step up on intelligence gathering, stating that the government will also fast-track its identity management policy so that it could know who lives where in the state.

The governor equally warned residents of the state not to stigmatise any particular ethnic group but to search out the real enemies who he said are the kidnappers, bandits, rapists, hoodlums and armed robbers.

At the home of the Aborodes, where the governor commiserated with the father of the late Aborode, Governor Makinde said: “I want to tell you that I feel your pain, because when I saw the news of the death of Dr. Fatai Aborode, I was seriously pained.

“In 2017, when we were striving to restructure the PDP, we started meetings and put some people in some local governments. Dr. Aborode was made the point man in Ibarapa North. I was at Ibadan in charge of Ibadan North-East and we did hold meetings at Premier Hotel. The situation is that if a tsetse fly perches on one’s private part, it requires wisdom to make it fly away or to kill it.

“Everybody is alleging that the Police are not giving us enough support while Amotekun and Operation Burst are really being supportive. But what the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states is that whatever bothers on internal security should be handled by the Police.

“That is why some of us have said the federal control of Police is limiting their performance. That was why we requested for State Police and we know it is a constitutional issue.

“So, when we got into government, we observed there was no State Police and we did not want to drop the idea. Those who were of the opinion that State Police may be used for political reasons also have their own point but if there is an alignment, people will see that the noticeable gap in policing should be bridged.

“When the discussion was going on, the IGP also agreed that there is a gap and that was why they recruited for community policing but we think that is not enough to bridge the existing gap. That was why we requested state policing and when we did not get that, we resorted to Amotekun as a stop-gap arrangement while the issue of the constitution review is going on.

“So, I would like to say that most of our compatriots have been cut down in their prime; we regret it and the solution is we must not lose more lives unnecessarily. That is very fundamental. So, anything we want to do, one thing that must guide us is the fact that we must not lose more lives.”

Governor Makinde stated that the crisis escalated due to failures on different fronts, saying: “There are failures on a number of fronts and one of the fronts we are witnessing failure was when some are saying they wrote letters to my office. I said I will love to see the acknowledgment copies to know where those letters are, who acknowledged them, and the prayers you made too.

“When I saw the acknowledgment letters, I saw that one of them was dated 27th of January, the earliest one was 20th of January and that is when the cases had escalated.

“Anything about security, I approve instantly because most of the things we want to do in Oyo State, ranging from economy, good education for our children and other things are hinged on a safe and secure environment. I believe there is a failure in that communication.

“Any emergency situation must be treated as an emergency. There is nothing that should stop you (chairmen) from telling us there is an emergency situation, which requires you to sit down with the governor. So, I have seen the failure we have to address and we have to ensure that, moving forward, wherever there is a gap, we must bridge instantly.”

On the trust deficit between Fulani herdsmen resident in the state and the local residents, the governor stated that the state will fast-track the identity management scheme that will help to identify who lives where in the state, warning, however, everyone must strive to keep the peace.

“Some of the problems have been existing for years. It is not all Fulani people that are criminals, I must tell you. Some of those caught after a robbery operation at Okeho were Igbira from Kogi State.

“So, we must strive and do the work that can keep our environment safe. There are few things the government has promised to do and the central part of it, which we think will help our situation is identity management. We want to know who is where.

“This week, after the whole issue started escalating, I asked the committee we set up to look into that but they had already formed an inter-ministerial committee. Immediately I noticed, I dissolved it and gave the S.A on ICT single-point responsibility and a time-frame to get it done. This is an unusual time.

“What happened in Rwanda will not be our portion. If anyone wants to ignite war in Nigeria,bit won’t be from here and won’t be under my own watch. We will find a solution to the challenges facing us because we know there are challenges.”

He also warned against attempts by some individuals to politicise the insecurity situation, noting that after his administration ends, the state would remain to face the consequences of their actions.

While speaking at Idere, the governor said though he could be accused of anything on the crisis in Ibarapaland, he could not be accused of not loving his people, saying that before he became governor, the people demonstrated love for him.

He said: “I feel your pain and I am not taking your love for granted. Those who want to politicise the situation were the ones saying I should have visited here but, the truth is, I needed feedback. And it was deliberate that the document we brought out in 2019, security is one of the pillars that we say this administration would rest upon.

“It was deliberate for me to stay here overnight. One thing I want to take away is that we are all together to solve this problem. I don’t want further needless loss of lives, whether Fulani or Yoruba or anybody and we all need to come together.

” There are criminals from all over and we also have the issue of fake news. Sometimes, we don’t know which news is true and the fake one. They have given the security agencies a run around.

“Deliberately, some elements will send fake news out and security agencies will still expend the limited resources to chase after something that is not real. But we should not be looking back. We are where we are right now and we must think-out solutions that will move us forward with minimal disruptions and loss of lives.

“Within the next one week, we will summon the meeting Kabiyesi asked us to call for. One of the initiatives of the government is, we need to know who is where and that is why I asked them to fast track the policy of identity management in Oyo State. Be it okada riders, be it Fulani herdsmen, we want to know you and know what you are doing.

“So, I solicit your support and we will deploy resources to get it done.
“By God’s grace, very soon, all of us will begin to sleep with our two eyes closed. But we all have to do it together. If you see something, say something to us. Always remind those who are going about, insisting they must politicise the issue of security in the state too.”

During the different stops, traditional rulers, political leaders, youth leaders and other stakeholders took turns to brief the governor of the challenges they have been dealing with in the hands of herdsmen from 2008 and kidnappers, especially in recent times.

The post We can’t lose more lives to insecurity – Makinde first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post We can’t lose more lives to insecurity – Makinde appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.