OYO: Treat Igboho, others like criminals if arrested, Makinde tells Police

GOVERNOR Seyi Makinde has ordered police to arrest anyone caught causing tension in the state.

Makinde  said  this while receiving the new Commissioner of Police in the state, Mrs Ngozi Onadeko.

He noted that the state government would not relent in placing priority on the welfare of security agencies in the state.

The governor said this hours after a popular Yoruba activist Sunday Adeyemo popularly hailed as Sunday Igboho visited Igangan, a community in Ibarapa North Local Government, to restate that the Fulani people must leave the town following the expiration of the ultimatum he had earlier given them.

The activist had accused the Fulani of perpetrating murders and kidnappings.

But reacting to the development, Makinde declared that his government would not allow anyone hiding under the guise of protecting Yoruba interests to cause ethnic tension and perpetrate crisis.

He maintained that the war Oyo and security agencies need to wage is not against any particular ethnic group but against criminal elements, irrespective of their tribes, religions, or creed.

The governor added that his administration would not allow anyone to threaten the peace of the state by acting unlawfully and saying things that are alien to the Nigerian constitution.

Makinde told the new Police boss in the state that his administration would continue to synergise with law enforcement organs to fight criminals, hoodlums and bandits irrespective of their tribe or religion.

“For people stoking ethnic tension, they are criminals and once you get them, they should be arrested and treated like common criminals.

“I am sure that since you came in, you must have heard about some things happening at Ibarapa axis of the state. I will still say it here that we are not after Hausa-Fulani. We are after criminals”, he said.

While in Igangan, Igboho insisted that the Seriki Fulani of the community must leave. He even took a swipe at the government for deploying soldiers to the community because of him something it could have done to nip the problem of insecurity in the bud before it got to the current stage.

Addressing the youths, Igboho said, “They started deploying soldiers here since yesterday (Thursday). When our people were being kidnapped and killed, there was not soldier to be deployed to secure them.

Reacting to Sunday Igboho’s visit, the Oyo State PPRO, Olugbenga Fadeyi, said, “Tactical police teams with Operation Burst are  on ground to give maximum security protection   while efforts are on to ascertain the situation there.”