In complementing efforts of security agencies and Amotekun, a new group known as South-West Security Stakeholders Group led by the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams has been unveiled.
The new group was unveiled, on Wednesday 17thMarch 2021, when Yoruba leaders of thought, obas, chiefs, policy makers, politicians, technocrats converged in Ibadan for a Pan Yoruba congress.
The new platform is to be a convergence of various Yoruba socio-cultural groups, members of traditional institutions, members of groups like the Oodua Group Congress, Agbekoya, Soludero, hunters, vigilante and other non-state actors.
The meeting resolved that the new group became expedient owing to challenges that security agencies, as well as Amotekun faced in tackling security challenges facing the Yoruba nation.
Prior to the resolve, various speakers at the event had decried pointers to government’s helplessness in handling the nation’s security challenges.
They expressed worry that the Yoruba nation constantly recorded kidnappings, arson, killings, rape, destruction of farmlands and other means of livelihood.
Describing forests in Yoruba land as sacred, the communiqué of the conference, as read by Secretary-General, Yoruba Council of Elders, Dr Kunle Olajide, held that the Yorubas will not cede an inch of her forests to anyone.
The meeting especially urged governors of the South West to be cautious in implementing the National Livestock Transformation Plan, noting that lands of the region should not be ceded with relevant consultations and compliance with relevant laws.
Decrying the South West’s reliance on the North for food, the conference charged South-West governments to optimise the region’s potentials in agriculture.
In the same vein, the conference urged the South-West governors to revamp and reinvigorate Oodua Investment.
Giving his remarks, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams held that traditional rulers of Yoruba land must take the threat to the region as a matter of grave concern.
He harped on the need for unity among various Yoruba socio-cultural groups and among Yorubas general to achieve the desired progress.
Speaking on the capture of notorious Fulani, Iskilu Wakili, he said the arrest was the crescendo of one-month of planning and strategy by the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC).
