The Ogun State government has deployed 10 patrol vans and 20 motorcycles in the Yewa axis of the state as part of efforts to check the herders/ farmers’ crisis in the area.
Governor Dapo Abiodun at the presentation ceremony in Abeokuta said the measure was a fulfilment of his promise to return peace to the affected areas in Yewa.
Abiodun recalled that when the crisis broke out a few weeks back, he had constituted a Joint Special Security Intervention Squad as well as a high powered government delegation to mediate between the two parties.
He also recalled that he promised to support the task force with operational equipment and other logistics needed to accomplish its task.
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“This gesture is, therefore, a step in making good my promise to support the taskforce for the success of its assignment,” he said.
The governor noted that the people of the affected area who lived close to the border area of the Republic of Benin usually had difficulties making distress calls in times of trouble. He explained that the state had been having series of meetings with telecommunication firms, adding that plans are in top gear to deploy more masts to the area to address the issue.
Abiodun explained that the equipment were meant only for the Yewa axis and that same measure would be replicated in other parts of the state should there be a need for such.
The governor, who noted that Ogun was widely known for peace, assured that the government would ensure that anyone found sponsoring or perpetrating crime in the state would be severely dealt with.
He called on the people of the state to stop ascribing crime to a particular ethnic group, saying that “a criminal is a criminal regardless of where he comes from.”
The governor noted that the proliferation of fake news had also contributed to deepening the crises in the area. He described as falsehood recent reports that no fewer than 5000 Ogun indigenes had escaped to seek refuge in the Republic of Benin because of the crisis.
“I wonder who took the census and how that can take place without meetings between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin.
“Some who came to Abeokuta because of the crisis were provided with free accommodation and so I wonder why some people would just sit down somewhere and be cooking up untrue stories,” he said.
Abiodun explained that the state Ministry of Justice had already been working to ensure that there were necessary laws to provide for punitive measures against publishers of fake news.
Edward Ajogun, Commissioner of Police (CP), Ogun command, commended Abiodun “for a promise kept”. He assured that all security agencies were committed to restoring peace to the area.
