OYO: Seek help, convene Council of State meeting, Alao-Akala tells Makinde

CHIEF Adebayo Alao-Akala has advised Governor Seyi Makinde to use persuasion rather than power to resolve the security challenges bedevilling the Pacesetter State.

Alao-Akala, who is a former governor of Oyo, said this against the background of a statement credited to Makinde that the police should treat popular activist, Sunday Adeyemo better known as Sunday Igboho and his lieutenants as “common criminals” if caught.

Igboho had issued a seven-day ultimatum to Fulani herdsmen in Igangan, a community in Ibarapa North Local Government of the state, to vacate the town.

He blamed Fulani for the growing insecurity in the agrarian town.

But reacting to the tension which Igboho’s eviction order and Governor Makinde’s tough stance have generated in the state, Alao-Akala advised the governor to, as a matter of urgency, convene a Council of State meeting to brainstorm on the security challenges besetting the state.

Alao-Akala, Chairman, Elders Advisory Council of the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, made the call during an interview with journalists shortly after an expanded meeting of the party, held on Saturday at his Awosika, Ibadan residence.

The former governor said that a Council of State meeting, comprising all former governors of the state, both military and civilian, is necessary at this point to save Oyo from total collapse, security-wise.

Council of state meeting is a statutory organ of government and its function, including advising the executive in policymaking.

Alao-Akala said, “Governor Seyi Makinde needs help in the area of maintaining law and order in the polity. Hence, he should not shy away from that fact.

“He needs to sit down and brainstorm with people who have been there before him to share from their wealth of experience on how certain things are done especially in the area of security.

“Take for instance, at the national level, the president meets periodically with former heads of state and former presidents and all former Chief Justices, among others, at the Nigerian Council of State meeting to review activities of government and seek for advise and interventions where need be.

“This is exactly what Governor Makinde needs in Oyo State at the moment. The peace and stability of the state is a collective responsibility of all. We are all stakeholders in the Oyo State project.”

He added, “Part of the duties of the Council of State is also to advise whenever requested to do so on the maintenance of public order within the federation and any part thereof and in such other matters as may be desired.

“So, Governor Seyi Makinde will very much be in order if he convenes this strategic meeting as a stitch in time saves nine,” Chief Alao-Akala added.

‌