The Ekiti state government on Sunday appealed to the military authority to return the various checkpoints manned by soldiers which were dismantled to check increase in crime rate in the state.
The appeal followed the rampant cases of kidnapping and killings along some highways in the state in recent times.
The Deputy Governor, Chief Bisi Egbeyemi, who made the appeal when he visited the Correspondent Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ekiti state chapter, appealed to military top hierarchy to redeploy soldiers in these dreaded zones in the interest of the commuters.
The deputy governor expressed fear about the removal of military check-points along Iwaraja-Efon-Ita Ure-Aramoko, Ado-Ikere-Ise-
Emure and Ikere-Akure highways, where cases of kidnappings had been rampant and established in recent time, could cause breach of peace during yuletide.
He said the presence of soldiers on these highways had helped in warding off criminals and also stemmed the tides of crime in the state.
He assured that the governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has robust four-point cardinal programme with which to develop Ekiti, saying this policy won’t deviate from the progressive norm which abhors abandonment of the projects of the preceding government.
He said all the projects initiated by former Governor Ayodele Fayose will be completed, saying Fayemi’s administration won’t operate at the pedestrian level, where government abandons the projects of the predecessors.
He said: “Our government is passionate about security and we are ready to spend if spending money would make Ekiti safe and peaceful.
“Our government wants peace and very soon you will be seeing changes in the actions of our security personnel. They were not motivated before but now our government is taking steps to give them incentives to be able to work.
“We learnt the security check-points mounted at Ita Ure in Efon Alaaye and the one along Ise Ekiti had been dismantled. We want to urge military to redeploy soldiers to those areas because of the rampancy of kidnapping in our dear state.
“We realized that soldiers are the security personnel that kidnappers fear most and they must be retained in Ekiti for the safety of our people”, he said.
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