* Femi Awojobi
By Femi Awojobi
“It once said that every Regime has a policy that sustains its form”.
Security of Citizenry, irrespective of political or religious affiliations of a particular Society, should ordinarily not be negotiable or an uncompromising agenda of a responsive or responsible Leader or Government.
To secure a Society now globally is more than relying on the orthodox or crude practice of carrying Guns or displaying such or other weapons by security agents as if Guns or weapons are to be displayed like “selling cold table water on highways to quench thirsty condition of Travellers”
“Intelligence gathering, background checks, good remuneration, training and retraining, sophisticated technology and weapons, psychological re-awakening, community- relating-security -strategy and boundary-patrol -synergy are some of the keys for a secured Society.”
Proliferations of security architecture in Ekiti State had no doubt done more harm than good on security challenges confronting the State in the last two years.
Unwanton killings, Kidnapping, robbing, and even extortion of innocent People in the State in 2024 which snowballed into the year 2025, have been a result of the Carelessness or unpreparedness of the Ruling class to take the Bull by the Horns in the State.
The cases of People killed, robbed, maimed, or kidnapped last and this new year alone have never been recorded in the checkered history of Ekiti State.
And, the most unfortunate aspect of it, is that the number of security agencies being initiated, sponsored, or financed by the present administration of Mr. Biodun Oyebanji through the tax Payers money in Ekiti State apart from Nigerian constitutionally recognized Agencies like the Army, DSS, Police, and others had outnumbered the Agencies used by successive administrations in the State. Yet, the security challenges are growing higher and remain unabated daily.
“Without mincing words, the security situation in Ekiti State now could be best described as what an adage once described as a Society where Dogs kill Tigers for survival, which practically means an unsafe Society to live in.”
Apart from regular Security Agencies, Ekiti alone has Amotekun, a Southwestern security network initiated to secure the region when the gangsterism of Fulani Herdsmen became almost unbearable in the region. The outfit is doing extremely well in other Southwestern States of the Country. That you could hardly recognize the duties or activities of the Army, Police, or DSS in the two Sister States, but in Ekiti, the reverse is the case.
Instead of the Ekiti government empowering Amotekun in collaboration with the Army, Police, DSS, and other recognized security Outfits through logistics, training, and retraining with confidence to protect the People of the State, the present administration looked the other way rather than establishing another security Agency named “AGRO- MARSHALL.”
According to the government, on the day of input duration of “AGRO-MARSHALL,” the Outfit was established to man forests, and Borders to tackle security issues in the State.
Also, in Ekiti, we still have the Peace Corps initiated by former Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi’s administration, Vigilante, and Agbekoya Security Groups, all in the name of securing the people in the state.
Unfortunately, all these aforementioned security personnel are carrying guns without background checks, adequate remuneration, training, and retraining because they are politically recruited personnel or created agencies not to secure the people from being robbed, kidnapped, or killed as the government made us believe abinitio but rather recruited or created to serve as political back ups during electoral struggles.
Some of these politically recruited security personnel in the state who are carrying guns are earning less than thirty thousand Naira monthly in this current economic situation, and they will pay for transport fares, feeding, and other domestic needs from the same amount, I ask, what is the wisdom in that arrangement? Except the Government is deliberately endangering the lives of the residents for reasons best known to it.
“The situation in some parts of Ekiti State on security issues can now be best described as what I once called” an act of bombing or killing in the Middle East, especially Gaza, which was no longer news because it was a daily occurrence then.”
However, the State government machinery is so smart to cover up some atrocities being committed by some unscrupulous elements operating in the State to remain relevant politically at the expense of the hapless people being governed. But, the reality on the ground for the Victims of the heinous acts and families of such is killing them faster than missiles.
And despite the economic hardship, people are still struggling to raise ransoms for the kidnappers to get their family members released nearly on a weekly, if not daily, basis, apart from Hospital Bills for the maimed or wounded victims who might have been lucky to escape death.
Also, the families of two monarchs who were gruesomely murdered by kidnappers because of the careless handling of the security situation by the present administration in Ekiti State will forever have such an ugly story to tell.
Poverty and mispriority on the path of government, especially on some of its policies and programs, are major problems fuelling insecurity in the State, and not until the necessity is done, Ekiti people may continue to sleep with their two eyes being opened because of any eventuality of the men of the underworld.
However, the new 148-Battalion Formation of Nigeria Army recently announced by the Authority is the only hope Ekiti people will have to be looking forward to, as the State Government has let them down in securing their lives and properties.
The outgoing Commander of 12 Brigade, Lokoja, Major General Oluremi Fadairo, said that the new formation would bring remarkable improvement to the security architecture of Ekiti, Kogi, and Ondo states.
Fadairo spoke in Ado Ekiti when he led other senior Army officers, including the new Brigade Commander, 12 Brigade, Lokoja, Brigadier General Kasim Sidi, and the Commanding Officer of the new Battalion and the Garrison Commander, 32 Brigade, Colonel Kyari Babakura, on a visit to Governor Biodun Oyebanji.
They were in the state to assess the new barracks of the Nigeria Army in Ikere Ekiti ahead of the deployment of personnel and equipment to the state.
The military chiefs expressed satisfaction with the location of the Army Barracks in Ikere Ekiti and assured the governor that the deployment of personnel would commence at the temporary base immediately as they requested a bigger space to serve as a temporary abode for the deployed personnel.
Fadairo urged residents of the state “to give the military the required maximum support and cooperation to enable it to achieve its desired objective of curtailing all forms of insecurity in the state.”
Femi Awojobi, A Journalist and Media Expert Writes From Ado Ekiti.
kingfemi13@gmail.com (08037643696).
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