Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of Oyo State declared on Monday that the state government had turned the heat on kidnappers and criminals in Ibarapa and Oke-Ogun axis of the state, adding that the state would succeed in routing them.
Governor Makinde, who was speaking at different spots in Ibarapaland where he engaged the people in town hall meetings, said that his administration would get the criminals to account for their heinous acts in the state.
He equally declared that the state could not afford to lose any more lives to insecurity, stating, however, that any action that must be taken must be guided by the realisation that a wrong solution must not be proffered in order to avoid unintended consequences.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, indicated that the governor stated these in Ibarapaland during meetings at Idere, Igangan and during visits to the homes of the late Dr. Fatai Aborode and others who lost their lives to the crisis in the area.
Governor Makinde, who equally commiserated with Mrs. Idowu Babarinde, who lost a child to indiscriminate shooting by kidnappers in their attempt to kidnap a filling station owner in Idere, said he was pained by the losses recorded in the area, adding that he felt the pain of the people of Ibarapaland.
“I decided to spend the night in Ibarapaland so as to let you know that if my people in this place cannot sleep with two eyes closed, I cannot also sleep with my two eyes closed in Ibadan,” the governor said, adding that the visit afforded him the opportunity of feeling the pains of the people first-hand.
He said: “We are turning the heat on the criminal elements and we will surely get them.”
He stated that the government would compensate victims of the insecurity situation in Ibarapaland, adding that measures that the government was taking to curtail the situation included the setting up of an all-inclusive peace and security committee at the local government levels and the stepping up intelligence gathering in the area.
According to him, “one of the things we want to do is, we must have a peace and security committee at the local government level, which will be all-encompassing.
“Those people that are supposed to be there and can contribute meaningfully must be accommodated.
“So, I have listened to you. I came here purposely to sleep over to demonstrate that your problem is also my problem. If you cannot sleep with your two eyes closed, I also have no business sleeping with my two eyes closed in Ibadan.”
