BEING A COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AFTER A DAY YORUBA
SECURITY SUMMIT HOSTED BY THE AROLE ODUDUWA & OONI OF IFE, OONI ADEYEYE
ENITAN OGUNWUSI, CFR, OJAJA II AT THE IFE GRAND RESORT, ILE-IFE ON THURSDAY,
29th FEBRUARY, 2024
PREAMBLE:
Due
to the recent upsurge in the killings, maiming and kidnappings in South West,
Nigeria, the House of Oduduwa today,
Thursday, 29th February 2024, held a Yoruba security summit at Ojaja Arena, Ife
Grand Resort, Ile-Ife.
Two
major themes were addressed:
i.
Kidnapping and banditry, delivered by Dr. Solomon E. Arase (Ex
Inspector General of Police).
ii.
Yoruba Legacy of African Science: Overcoming the twin menace,
delivered by Dr. (Chief) Ifayemi Elebuibon Osundagbonu.
The
summit, which enjoyed the support of H.E. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR,
President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of
Nigeria and under the chairmanship of Retired General Alani Akinrinade, CFR.
The
Governor of Osun State was represented by his Deputy, Prince Kola Adewusi while
the other five Governors of Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo, Lagos and Ogun States sent
representatives.
The
summit which was conveyed by the Arole Oduduwa & Ooni of Ife, Ooni Adeyeye
Enitan Ogunwusi, CFR, Ojaja II, was a gathering of Traditional Rulers across
Yoruba land.
The
summit was attended by the Olowo of Owo Alayeluwa, Oba Ajibade Gbadegesin
Ogunoye III, Osemawe of Ondo, Alayeluwa Oba Victor Kiladejo, the Deji of Akure,
Owa Ajero of Ijero-Ekiti, Akarigbo of Remoland, Olowu of Owu,Abeokuta, Alayemore
of Ido-Osun, Aragbiji of Iragbiji, Akire of Ikire-Ile and a host of other
Yoruba traditional rulers.
The
summit also featured presentations by; the Alara of Ara-Ekiti, Iba Gani Adams,
the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Mr. Sunday Igboho and Mr. Akin Osuntokun and
a host of others.
OBSERVATIONS
i.
The security summit noted that there have been organized
systematic attacks on Traditional Rulers and eminent sons and daughters of
Yoruba land by suspected herders.
ii.
The summit further noted that the herdsmen attacks have been
largely responsible for food insecurity and food scarcity in the South West
because of the organized attacks on farmers who, for fear of attacks, stay away
from farmlands.
RESOLUTIONS
1.
That Yoruba people
should take full control of their forests, homelands and farmlands.
2.
That the Amotekun
corps should be strengthened in terms of;
i.
Given recognition
and to be transformed to the status of State Police;
ii.
Motivation,
finances, training and retraining of personnels and that those who are familiar
with nooks and crannies of our forests should be recruited into the Amotekun.
iii.
Provision of
training grounds for its personnel.
iv.
Provision of
adequate budgetary allocations to the Amotekun corps.
v.
The summit agreed
that a department of Forest Amotekun corps be created
3.
That the Yoruba,
especially the traditional rulers should make recourse to their natural
resources including natural powers to combat banditry and kidnapping; that
Yoruba Obas should not jettison traditional values.
4.
That government at
all levels should recognize the roles of traditional rulers and factor them
into the national security architecture.
5.
That the entire
Obas in Yorubaland should work in unison to ward off the evils of banditry and
kidnappings as each of the states could only succeed in chasing the marauders
to another state.
6.
Traditional rulers
are advised to uphold and value the custom and tradition of the land.
7.
That each time an
attack took place, the offenders were quickly left off the hook by the powers
that be and that the judicial process should be strengthened to mete out appropriate
punishments to culprits or bring them to justice.
8.
That the Governors
of South West Nigeria should organize Regional Security Summit at the earliest
practicable time, including all stakeholders to chart the way forward and give
teeth to all the concerns raised at this (current) summit.
9.
The security
summit called for strong support for the administration of President Asiwaju
Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the larger interest of Yoruba race.
10.
The security
summit called on Yoruba Traditional rulers to return to the pristine Yoruba
traditional, spiritual and cultural values. At all times, the traditional
rulers should recognize that, in spite of whatever nature of religion they
practice, they must recognize that the stool they preside over is traditional.
11.
The summit called
on Yoruba traditional rulers to take full possession of their forests,
homelands and farmlands.
12. The summit called on Local, State and Federal
Governments to employ use of drones and other appropriate technology for the
effective surveillance of Yoruba forests and roads.
13. The summit
agreed that the Yoruba security summit should be held quarterly basis so as to
capture intervening and supervising variables in our polity.
14. We take due cognizance
of the difficulties and challenges Nigeria is going through. We dare say that
our son; Bola Tinubu whom it has pleased God to make the President of Nigeria
is doing his level best to grapple with, and overcome the challenges. We appeal
to our colleauges from all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria to cooperate and
support him to make a success of his government.
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