The Ibadan Traditional Council has laid the blame for the worsening insecurity in Oyo State at the doorstep of Governor Seyi Makinde, advising him to change tactics before it is too late.
The council is made up of members of the Olubadan-in-Council; monarchs in Ibadan land and family heads known as Mogajis.
Members of the council, who took turn to speak on the growing insecurity in the state, accused the governor of running a one-man administration, which they insisted was hurting the security of lives and property in the state.
They noted that a one-man management can not work in securing the state.
According to them, several attempts to meet the governor and explain why his style was failing the state were unsuccessful. They accused Makinde of having “poor respect” for them.
The members explained that they were excluded in the security architecture of the state, despite being closer to the people in all the communities.
Asking the various community leaders in the Ibadand to raise vigilante groups, comprising youths in their areas of jurisdiction, the traditional chiefs maintained that “what is unfolding security-wise in the state capital looks fearful and raises concern among the people and the reason why all hands must be on deck.”
The Otun Olubadan of Ibadanland, Sen. Lekan Balogun, appealed to the governor to change his approach, stressing that excluding the traditional institution has not been helpful to good maintainance of security in Ibadan.
He said: “We have nothing against the governor, we supported his emergence and want him to succeed, which is why we are calling his attention to what we perceive as a lacuna.
“The issue of security needs multi-dimensional approach and there’s no way government alone can solve or handle it. As the closest institution to the people, we have crucial roles to play to ensure that the menace of insecurity is tackled and the more reason why there must be collaboration between us and the government to avoid working at cross-purposes.”
