The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has warned against violence, saying that the South West of the country does not want war.
This is as he disclosed that some strange persons had occupied the bushes in the South West of the country and needed to be fished out.
Ooni made these remarks on Thursday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja while speaking with State House correspondents, shortly after he held a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ooni who said he was at the Villa to represent other traditional rulers in the South West, disclosed that he met with the president over the state of insecurity in the region with the intention of finding a solution to it.
“Why I’m here again is, everybody is beating the war drum; we don’t want war; who can stand war? We want something better for our youths. We should better use them for something good other than shouting war and anarchy. And to the glory of God we told Mr President that and he is on the same page with us,” he said.
Ooni said before his visit, he had discussed with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, who had also discussed with Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, who he said were highly experienced.
“So, I’m here and I had a discussion that is very fruitful with Mr President about what we all know – the security situation in the country. We made him to know that the issue at hand in the south-west is real – the issue of insecurity.
“We live in the remote and rural areas of the south western part of the country, most of those bushes and those forests are being occupied by strange people and we have decided to take it upon ourselves to try as much as possible to work with the government to fish them out…
“We should make sure that things are right. Mr President has actually given good directives to all the security chiefs, especially the Inspector-General of Police. They will visit all traditional rulers’ palaces that are very sensitive in the South West with immediate effect – he is going to give that directive.
“We need to work very closely with them and every other security agency in the country. We all must put them to use now; it is very important for us to put them to use and work with the locals,” he stated.
Ooni said the issue of Ruga settlement was discussed with the president and he said he would explain his side of the story to the world as he had been misconstrued.
His words: “He wants to let the world and Nigerians in particular to know the true side of the story because he is being read out of context. So, we should give him that opportunity as the number one citizen of the country and what is important for me is the youthful exuberant nature of our youths in Nigeria; they should not take laws into their hands by going into those places and begin to kill and maim.’’
