Oyo moves against insecurity in troubled zone

The Oyo government says it has put in place measures to address the incessant abductions in the Oke-Ogun area of the state. Consequently, a task force has been raised to tackle the menace.

The Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Toye Arulogun, stated yesterday in Ibadan that Governor Abiola Ajimobi ordered the establishment of the task force after a series of meetings with farmers, herdsmen, traditional rulers, security agencies and other stakeholders to look into the spate of kidnappings, maiming and clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the zone, noting that the panel had visited the affected area for an on-the-spot assessment.

He noted that the government had mandated security agencies in the state to beef up security and boost intelligence gathering, stating ongoing efforts were yielding result, as some suspected kidnappers had been arrested.

The commissioner observed that improved surveillance had doused the tension in the area, assuring the people that the Ajimobi administration would continue to protect lives and property.

Arulogun said: “The security situation in the state is not as bad as being portrayed by some mischievous individuals. The breach was more from external than internal persons. Our administration is known for peace, safety and security. This is evident in the four-star rating as a well as a qualified state to help foreign and domestic investors given by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC). Also, the state was adjudged as the fourth best investment-friendly state and one of the only five states that attracted investment to the country in the last quarter of 2017 by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

“It is based on the peaceful cum secured environment that new businesses are springing up with a renaissance of the night economy in the state and government is getting a lot of investment requests. We cannot allow anything to disrupt the peace in the state and that is the reason the governor set up a taskforce to address the issue of Oke Ogun in addition to the existing security apparatus.

“The security agencies in Oyo are living up to expectation and we should all join hands with them to ensure that security is not breached in the state. We should commend them for their improved intelligence as well as pro-activeness to ensure that the state is not turned to a crisis-torn zone. On our part, government will not fail to provide adequate security for its people and support all the security agencies to perform their duties well.”