The pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has called on the federal and state governments as well as security agencies to do everything possible to stop insecurity in the country in order to prevent more Nigerians from becoming residents at Internally Displaced Persons camps.
Afenifere, in a statement issued on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, observed that the spate of attacks on communities and on individuals in the South has escalated, thus causing fear among the people.
He urged the state governors to meet the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and leadership of the National Assembly on the need to establish state police ‘as a matter of urgent necessity.’
Afenifere hailed the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, for ordering that Close Circuit Television be installed and used in places of worship, schools, parks and other public and private places in the state.
It said, “Given the limitations of state governments in the control of security apparati in their respective states, it is incumbent that they are allowed to transform their present security organisations such as Amotekun into a full-fledged police so that they would be in a better position to effectively utilise the information gathered from the CCTV monitoring.”
The group lamented the rate of killing, maiming and kidnapping for ransom in the South, saying these must be stopped by all means.
Afenifere said, “From all indications, state governors have a lot of clout because the constitution invests them with a lot of powers. They should, as chief security officers of their respective states, impress it on the powers that be in Abuja that the country is now in such a serious crossroads security wise that they must be allowed to take the bull by the horn. They can do this by having state police.”
