Governor Seyi Makinde yesterday revealed that he did not scrap the local council development area, LCDAs, system of local government administration in order to take care of the interest of Fulanis living in the state.
This was just as Makinde who spoke governor while addressing a meeting of South-West governors, national leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association (MACBAN) and heads of security agencies on the insecurity challenges in the South-West geopolitical zone, held at the International Culture and Event Centre, Akure, warned Nigerians to deal with the menace of fake news and sieve information on social media properly, noting that the rate at which fake news is being circulated portends great danger to the society.
Makinde warned against some elements seeking political powers at all costs, who he said, have resorted to misinforming the public and causing division among them, calling on such persons to desist from the path, as it is capable of causing tension in the country.
OYOINSIGHT.COM recalls that the administration for late former governor Abiola Ajimobi had introduced the LCDA system.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted the governor as saying that “I can tell you for a fact that when the Kisi area of Oyo State, which shares international border with Republic of Benin was invaded, all hands were on deck. MACBAN, Operation Burst, local hunters and the communities all worked together to clear the bush.
“During my electioneering, a major decision I was going to take was to scrap all the LCDAs in Oyo State and stick with only the LGAs that are known to the constitution of Nigeria. During the campaign, all the people I met at a particular LCDA (I think it is Oriire South) were Fulanis. And they told me I should not scrap the LCDA because it was the only LCDA dominated by the Fulani people.
“After I got elected, I decided I would not scrap the LCDAs again. I didn’t get such knowledge by sitting in the armchair in my house but by going out into the field and interacting with the people.
“So, when people talk, you wonder if they have done any kind of comparison with what has happened elsewhere in the world. What are we going to do moving forward in Oyo State? Well, the first thing I will say is to tell you the things that we will not do; we will not use criminality to solve another criminality, because of the unintended consequences of such an action; nobody can predict where it will end.
“Once you are drawn out to support criminality, you don’t know where it is going to end. So, what we are going to do is to continue to encourage our people to work together; to face our common enemies – the criminals, the kidnappers, the armed robbers and the bandits. Those are our common enemies.”
He equally charged his colleague governors and others in positions of leadership not to be tired or to relent, saying: “I want to end by saying that our leaders should not be tired. They will abuse us but we should continue to strive to provide the leadership that this country requires at this point in time.”
While speaking earlier, the MACBAN Secretary, Alhaji Baba Othman Ngelzarma, who noted that the Miyetti Allah was meeting the South-West governors on the escalating crisis between herders and farmers, said the body will continue to encourage herders in the Southern part of the country to live in peace and eschew criminality.
At the end of the meeting, it was resolved, among other things, that night grazing and grazing by underage children would stop henceforth.
