Seyi Makinde, the governor of Oyo State, has declared the state his administration has turned the heat on kidnappers and criminals in Ibarapa and Oke-Ogun axis of the state.
He assured the state will succeed in routing them.
Makinde, who was speaking at different spots in Ibarapaland where he engaged the people in town hall meetings, said that his administration will get the criminals to account for their heinous acts in the state.
He equally declared 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 law.
According to a statement on Monday, February 1, 2021, by his chief press secretary, Taiwo Adisa, the Governor spoke in Ibarapaland during meetings at Idere, Igangan, and visits to the homes of the late Fatai Aborode and others who lost their lives to the crisis in the area.
Makinde, who equally commiserated with 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.
“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 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 will compensate victims of the insecurity situation in Ibarapaland, adding that measures that the government is taking to curtail the situation include 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: “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.”
At the home of the Aborodes where he commiserated with father of the late Aborode, Makinde said: “I want to tell you that I feel your pain because when I saw the news of the death of Dr. Fatai Aborode, I was seriously pained.
“In 2017, when we were striving to restructure the PDP, we started meetings and put some people in some local governments.
“Dr. Aborode was made the point man in Ibarapa North. I was at Ibadan in charge of Ibadan North-East and we did hold meetings at Premier Hotel. The situation is that if a tsetse fly perches on one’s private part, it requires wisdom to make it fly away or to kill it.”
Source: The Nation
