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From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan and Chukwudi Nweje
Afenifere, pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, has raised the alarm that Nigeria is at the brink of an avoidable catastrophe that requires urgent actions.
It called for immediate passing of state policing Act to save Nigeria from imminent apostrophe, insisting that governors would become true chief security officers only when they have a security outfit that takes orders from them.
The group made the calls in a communique after an emergency executive meeting at the residence of its leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo.
National Publicity Secretary of the body, Jare Ajayi, in a statement in Ibadan yesterday, stated that the most potent recipe to prevent the catastrophe is restructuring that would return the country to true federalism.
At the meeting, Afenifere reviewed recent developments in the country and concluded that “the signs are ominous, requiring steps to prevent the country from apocalypse.”
It indicated that the meeting endorsed the recent resolutions of the governors of southern Nigeria with regards to placing a total ban on open grazing and having state police.
“Afenifere is in full support of the governors to have laws banning open grazing latest by September 1, this year. We notice that some states already have this law enacted. We urge the remaining states to enact the law expeditiously. Beyond the enactment, however, we call for immediate enforcement of the law so as to put an end to various vices that the act of open grazing is engendering.”
It frowned at the disapproval being expressed by some northern elements to the position of southern governors, prompting it to ask the questions: “Of what intrinsic benefits has open grazing been in the recent past going by various studies that have been done?
“It is on record, for instance, that open grazing is one of the major causes of desertification that is occurring in the northern part of the country. It is also on record that cows reared in a ranch are far more productive, healthier and are less tasking for the rearer compared to the ones being driven from one place to another in search of food and water. And certainly, those in ranches constitute less risk to neighbouring communities compared to the ones migrating from one place to another.”
Afenifere maintained that the seeming intractable security challenges were due largely to the restraint put in the way of state governors.
“The governors are described as chief security officers of their respective states, yet they have no security agency that can be deployed to where crimes are being committed with arms; a security agency that can arrest, investigate and prosecute. Those of them who came up with some security apparatus like Amotekun are disempowered because they could not bear arms. And when they arrest suspected criminals, such suspects must be handed over to the police.
“As experiences have shown, once this is done, hardly do such cases go beyond the police. And the state security body has no control anymore since the police is a federal agency, who does not take order from the governor. This must change. State police, down to the level of local government, must become operational immediately.”
The Afenifere executive council also called on President Muhammadu Buhari, the national and state assemblies and all other concerned authorities to ensure that restructuring takes place before end of the year.
