Traditional chiefs in Ekiti State have urged the state government to officially recognise and involve them in its efforts to maintain peace and security in the communities.
The chiefs also said involving local hunters and vigilante groups in security measures would help to stem dastardly activities by armed herdsmen and kidnappers across the state.
The title holders, under the aegis of Association of Ekiti Traditional Chieftaincy Title Holders, made the demands when they met the Deputy Governor, Chief Bisi Egbeyemi, yesterday in his office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
The 10-point demand was presented by the association’s spokesman, the Odofinyin of Iyin-Ekiti, High Chief Ayodeji Esan, to the government on behalf of all the chiefs.
Responding, Egbeyemi solicited the support of the traditional rulers and chiefs to tackle kidnapping and other violent crimes, adding that government was taking steps to ensure the security of lives and property in the state.
He said a special Security Council meeting has been scheduled for today, where far-reaching decisions would be taken on the security situation of the state.
The deputy governor told the chiefs, “We will frown against any oba or chief in whose domain people are kidnapped. We will frown against any place where people are kidnapped or used by kidnappers to operate.
Henceforth, obas and chiefs must now be on the alert and must know the people in their vicinity. You must be on the alert for strange persons in your neighbourhoods and farms who may want to use those places as hideouts.
“Those coming in and those going out of your domains, you must know them. Government is ready to assist you to ensure that there is security of lives and property. Obas and chiefs in communities between Igede and Efon, Ikere and Emure, Ado and Ikere, Iworoko and Ifaki and Ifaki and Omuo should be up and doing.”
Egbeyemi reminded the chiefs that during Governor Kayode Fayemi’s first tenure, he committed a lot of resources to security by equipping the police and purchasing over 35 vehicles for them. “But after four years, the vehicles are damaged and there are no replacements for them,” he lamented.
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