Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde has called on relevant stakeholders in the country to employ a more tactical approach in combating the insecurity challenges facing the nation.
The governor, who stated this at an expanded security council meeting held at the House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, said that security operatives must work on response time during emergencies.
The meeting was attended by traditional rulers, and service commanders, including the new Commissioner of Police, Oyo State Command, CP Adebowale Williams as well as local government chairmen and vice-chairmen.
Makinde, at the meeting, called for more cooperation and collaboration among security agencies, governments and the traditional institutions in the country, adding that such cooperation has helped to improve the security situation of Oyo State, noting that the state has been relatively peaceful.
The governor said that he conveyed the meeting against the backdrop of the security breaches recently experienced in Owo, Kaduna, and other parts of the country and called on the people of the state to be security-conscious, adding that security consciousness should be the business of everybody.
While commending the stakeholders for maintaining peace and tranquility in Oyo State, Makinde called on the traditional and religious leaders to sensitise their people on the need to alert security agents through the 615 security code during emergencies.
He stated: “Let me thank everyone in this hall for the role you have been playing in ensuring that Oyo State is relatively safe and secure.
“Yesterday, we had the state security council meeting, and relatively compared to other states, Oyo State is peaceful. If you look at the reports we have been receiving from all over the nation on the issue of banditry, insurgency, kidnapping, herders/farmers clashes, there are daily occurrences.
“We have had issues of jungle justice in the past week and those involved were lynched. But why did I call this expanded meeting? I went to Owo in Ondo where a Catholic church was attacked. I looked at the location of the church itself and I saw that it is inside the community, which shows that if they had had a rapid reaction, they would have caught those people responsible for the attack.
Earlier, the state’s Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Chief Bayo Lawal, expressed confidence that the meeting would proffer solutions to the security challenges in the state.
