Insecurity: Defend yourselves until Aiyedatiwa steps up, Ajayi tells Ondo residents

Former Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi, has urged the people of the state to defend themselves amid the spate of insecurity ravaging the state.

While berating Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa over the insecurity surge, Ajayi, who was the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the last governorship election in the state, emphasised that the governor should seek help in solving the security crisis.

The former deputy stated this following the protest that rocked Akure, the state capital, over the surge in killings and kidnappings, particularly the killing of five farmers in the early hours of Wednesday.

Ajayi, who was the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) during the last governorship election in the state, stressed this following the surge in the killings of farmers in the state.

According to him, the governor should endeavour to revamp the Amotekun Corps and also put in place the necessary measures to curb the situation.

He said, “Let me underscore the fact that the security challenge confronting Ondo State is not an entirely new development, but governments before the present have adeptly managed this odious crisis and disallowed it to fester to the level it is today.

“While I was Deputy Governor of Ondo State between 2017 and 2021, working dutifully alongside my late boss, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, we developed a robust plan and implemented actions that put banditry and criminality in check. We stopped outright open grazing of cattle by herdsmen, and sanity ruled.

“Unfortunately, the gains of that era have been allowed to slip away, and the people are now in pain.

“While I condemn the sloppiness and lethargy with which Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa is conducting the affairs of our state, it completely underscores his ill-preparedness and incompetence to be in the saddle.

“The need to take full grip of this crisis cannot be delayed a day longer. I therefore call on the governor to seek help and take actions that will take Ondo State back from the grip of invading bandits forthwith.

“The government must, as a matter of fact, revamp Amotekun immediately and ensure the re-creation of armed forest guards that will police our forests and uproot all invading criminal elements so that peace can reign in our state.

“Due to the fact that Mr. Governor takes over a billion naira as a security vote, it is time to make the administration of this fund bear results in the interest of the state; we, the people, do not deserve anything less.

“I encourage our people to begin to organise to defend themselves from undue assaults by bandits while we hope that Gov. Aiyedatiwa will get his acts together soon.”