*Restates call for multi-level policing
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organization, Afenifere yesterday, called on President Bola Tinubu to summon necessary political will to arrest the increasing insecurity in Nigeria.
The Pan Yoruba socio cultural and political organization made the call in a statement by the organization’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi,
In doing this, Afenifere emphasized that President Tinubu should urgently convene community/stakeholders meeting to tackle the insecurity challenges, saying, the tenor of the phenomenon “suggests that insiders have a hand in it”.
Afenifere maintained, “By insiders, we mean people who have a relationship one way or the other with kidnap victims”, and ” in other words, masterminds of this dastardly act, or their collaborators, could be family members, business associates or those with whom the victim has a social relationship”.
” Afenifere is sure that Tinubu-led government is capable of arresting the ugly phenomenon. This is why we have been suggesting the means to achieve this Among the steps suggested were urgent conveyance of cluster meetings with various communities where the stakeholders would be reminded of the risks and destructions such an act was causing them”, it said.
The Pan Yoruba organization added,” Government should also tell participants that henceforth, those who are caught, including collaborators, would face stiff penalties not ruling out death penalties”.
” At such meetings, collaborators and informants would be there to hear that government is now determined to be ruthless with hoodlums and terrorists.While that is going on, security agencies must be strengthened numerically, equipment-wise as well as in terms of remunerations and incentives – in addition to the deployment of modern technology for security purposes”.
Afenifere while citing the recent kidnap incidents in Otu, Saki and Okaka in Oke-ogun area of Oyo State, stressed that the incessant abductions in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, sacking of communities in Niger State etc, were indications that some of these incidents had signatures of insiders as conspirators or collaborators, if not masterminds.
It pointed out that the Southwest, ” hitherto considered as relatively safe, is now a theatre of the unfortunate situation as the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Mr. Phillip Aivoji and a few others were kidnapped at Ogere, Ogun State on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway last week Thursday when returning to Lagos while the Chairman of Oyo State Tipper, Lorry and Quarry Park Management System, Alhaji Akeem Akintola was attacked at Ajiboye area, Omi Adio, Ibadan and whisked away.
” As we have stated several times, the President should issue an Executive Order proclaiming multi-level police forces. In other words, states and local government areas that so desire should be legally allowed to have own police services that would operate within their areas of jurisdictions respectively. An Executive Bill can then be forwarded to the National Assembly for the amendment of relevant sections of the Constitution to allow multi-level policing”.
It said “this will go a long way in solving the problem. Experiences we had in the past and of such countries like Britain and United States of America, “are a clear indication that the time to allow for multi-level policing has come. But such police forces must be by state actors and NOT by non-state actors because of possible abuse”.
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