The Ibarapa Development Forum has expressed its dissapointment over the statewide broadcast made by Governor Seyi Makinde regarding the current state of insecurity in the zone.
OYOINSIGHT recalls that Makinde earlier in the week called for calm after some people issued a 7-day ultimatum to the Fulanis in Ibarapa.
The group, in a statement signed by its chairman, Etomilade Oduola, decried the claim by the Governor that the insecurity in the state is exaggerated.
The statement read:
We received with utter disappointment Governor Seyi Makinde’s broadcast to the people of Oyo State over the worsening security challenges in the State particularly in Ibarapa Region.
At a critical time that Ibarapa people cry for rescue from the daily horror of herdsmen terrorism, Governor Makinde’s first ever response is that insecurity in Oyo State is exaggerated as he labored so hard, albeit in vain, to play down the security challenges in Ibarapa vis-à-vis the herdsmen terrorism. It is really disappointing that this was the response of a Governor that has never commented on endless tragedies of kidnappings, maiming, destruction of hundreds of acres of farmlands and killings including the recent coldblooded murder of Alhaja Sherifat Adisa, the Chief Executive of SUBAWA Filling Station, Idere with two innocent children and the horrific killing of Dr. Fatai Aborode, an eminent Ibarapa son who was butchered on his way from over 300 acres of land that provides employment to scores of Ibarapa youths.
Governor Makinde fortuitously found his voice only after the threat of resort to self-help has become more imminent. Why did it take a Sunday Igboho’s threat for Governor Makinde to get the faintest reminder that he is the Chief Security Officer of the State?
The body language of the Governor and his subsequent broadcast underscores the need for the Governor to be closer to the governed. In his disquieting message, Governor Makinde constantly lapsed into the error of referring to Ibarapa region as Oke-Ogun and verbally ceded Igangan (an Ibarapa town and epicenter of herdsmen terrorism) to Oke-Ogun. We would not have been bothered about this blatant error of geography and history but for the insensitivity this ignorance also depicts. It shows that the Governor is oblivious of what is happening in his State and who the victims are. For the purpose of education, we wish to tell Governor Makinde that we are Ibarapa, not Oke-Ogun and our lives matter! We are one indivisible Region under God and in Oyo State.
Ibarapa loses on regular basis to criminality which gained ascendancy in Ibarapa at the inception of Governor Makinde’s administration. Much of this has been represented to the Governor over the last two years via various petitions to no avail. Hence, for the Governor to play down the magnitude of loss Ibarapa has experienced overtime is not only insensitive but also a betrayal. This is not what Ibarapa deserves from Governor Makinde.
Since the Governor’s broadcast and now, we have it on record that a 20-acre farmland was invaded by the criminally-minded herdsmen and the entire produce feasted on by the marauding beasts. The Governor needs to come down from his ‘high horse’ and listen to the people of Ibarapa who are groaning and counting their losses on a daily basis. It is quite obvious his understanding of the dynamics of the security situation in Ibarapa is compromised by those who feed him.
At this critical point, the Governor needs to connect directly with the Region the same way he did when he so much needed ‘peoples’ mandate.
We are aware and we affirm that the Governor must be the Governor of all. His broadcast however only expressed sympathy to the cause of the marauding herdsmen and sheer insentivity to Ibarapa lives that have been lost to the criminals in recent past. Governor Makinde makes a poor attempt at political correctness in an escalating insecurity crisis. THE SAFETY OF THE PEOPLE MUST BE THE MAINSTAY OF THIS GOVERNMENT. The Government must stop playing politics with our lives.
In a show of manifest commitment to the security of lives and properties by the Governor, we hereby demand inter alia:
a. Immediate ‘on the spot’ assessment by the Governor of the many ‘exaggerated’ security challenges in Ibarapa;
b. Support for immediate convocation of a Security Summit to reappraise the security situation in Ibarapa with a view to ascertaining the exaggerated’ claims of the people vis-à-vis other ethnic leanings;
C. Enhanced security intelligence in the Region particularly in Igangan – a border community;
d. SMART security target in the Region and Oyo State as a whole and possibly a quarterly review of same.
We, Ibarapa people, are loving, peaceful and accommodating and so we remain. But nobody shall live in Ibarapa at our expense.
