By Olubunmi Sodipo
While a measure of recognition ought to go to Oladeinde Olawoyin for exercising his civic right to draw government attention to “growing insecurity”, a negative trend which requires government action, it needs to be said that he should have stopped right there and not use the observation to wrongly label the Seyi Makinde government as aloof and indifferent. By so doing, Oladeinde went beyond being the concerned vigilante to being an extra judicial offender when he described the government of Engr Seyi Makinde as “been at best aloof and at worst indifferent, to this concern”.
In less than one year of being in office, Engr Seyi Makinde had demonstrated such a high level of commitment to the security of the lives and properties of the good people of Oyo State, in so many ways.
Firstly, this commitment has been demonstrated in the huge investments and capital outlay expended on equipping the police in Oyo State with brand new patrol vehicles enhanced with state-of-the-art communication gadgets for the effective policing of the state. Now, criminals have a harder time getting away from the police because policemen can communicate with one another in real time, across the length and breadth of the state.
For the first time in the history of Oyo State, a Commissioner of Police can reach his men on the field, even while being away from the state.
Along with this, a dedicated, toll free number, 615 was launched to afford the citizens of the state the opportunity to call the police into action wherever the need arises.
Right next to the above , in the scale of significance is the commitment the Engr Seyi Makinde-led administration has shown towards the establishment and operation of the South Western Security Network, code named, Amotekun. From hosting the initial security summits, to hosting the eventual public declaration of the project by the governments of the six South Western States to the speedy preparation of the required legal framework for the project and other arrangements necessary to make it operational.
Of tangential importance, but worthy of mention is the determination and political will Engr Seyi Makinde has shown in addressing the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW issue and the threat they have posed and they continue to pose to public peace and security. Governor Seyi Makinde eventually went ahead to uphold the proscription of NURTW.
More than that, the long term future of the body and the funds it had available to it was seriously impaired by the establishment of the Park Management System, at the risk of a political backlash. Is this the action of an ‘aloof or indifferent’ government?
You can tell the priorities of a government by the events the Executive Governor chooses to attend in person. The Deputy Governor and other government functionaries are there to represent the Governor at many sundry events. It is then remarkable to note that Engr Seyi Makinde was personally present at the recent commissioning of a police station in Oke Ogun. This is an indication of the value he places on better policing as one of the primary means of enhancing the peace and security of the state
How can Oladeinde Olawoyin describe a government with this level of commitment as aloof or indifferent to security concerns? He already put his finger on the probable cause of the recent upsurge in insecurity: an unlikely fallout of the Covid-19 lockdown (partial in Oyo State), but he chose to play a guessing game by suggesting and insinuating, a “much more sinister” cause he failed to identify nor analyse.
The bottom line is that with all efforts of the Makinde-led administration to preserve and guarantee the security of lives and Properties in Oyo State, some underlying factors have not changed.
We all need to realize that the present socio-economic turbulence brought in by the Covid-19 pandemic is a new, albeit temporary factor in the interplay of conditions that may or may not fuel violence and criminality. As such, we all need to live a bit more carefully, at least for a while.
Residents of Foko, Eyin Grammar, Adeyemo Layout, Iyana Liberty, Molete and other areas experiencing an appointment upsurge in insecurity need to make a formal report to the state police headquarters rather than be sending SOS alerts to a writer, if what they really want is to have their security challenges addressed rather than politicized.
Olubunmi Sodipo writes from Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
