Insecurity: Farmers, kidnap victims, others demand Change of Govt |Ojaomonews
...Prefer Oni, As Ekiti govt admits it can't stop menaces
Farmers in Ekiti State whose farming activities have been disturbed, due to incessant killing and maiming by killer herdsmen as well as the generality of Ekiti people who are saddened by the unchecked menace of gunmen and kidnappers have cried out that they will prefer an active Segun Oni as the next governor of the state.
They lamented the daily kidnapping of people for ransom and rapping of their wives and their daughters by the rampaging herdsmen, calling on Ekiti people to come out enmass on June 18 to use their voter cards to reject the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, "if they want a stop to insecurity in the state."
The farmers' delegate referred to the recent statement of the government through its Commissioner for Information in a national newspaper that the APC-led government had become incapacitated to halt the killings, kidnapping, maiming and destroying of farmlands.
"This is admittance of failure by the government; and when this happens, such government should be changed," the delegate said.
The commissioner, Akin Omole, in a recent interview with a national newspaper, had said "the state government is handicapped in the deployment of security agencies to the area; but I can assure you clearly that the situation in that area is giving us concerns as well."
The farmers' delegate said the return of APC government was a continuity of killing and maiming of farmers and a tacit endorsement for the kidnappers to continue their businesses as usual.
They, therefore, urged Ekiti people to elect Asiwaju Segun Oni as their governor who they claimed they believed "will value the lives and well-being of an average Ekitiman and who will not play politics with security and well-being of the people."
Leaders of the group, Chief Ajayi Olowolayemo, Pastor Adeoluwa Alonge, Mrs. Deborah Ayodele and Mr. Ibukun Lawal, who thronged the Ado-Ekiti office of Ekiti Build Back Better (EBBB) spoke the minds of the generality of Ekiti people who agreed that their state has been under siege and almost taken over by the killer herdsmen and kidnappers since 2018 when the APC took over administration of the state.
According to a press release issued by Idowu Adelusi, the spokesman of EBBB, in Ado-Ekiti at the weekend, the four-man delegate, which claimed to be speaking for the disenchanted Ekiti people, said the state had never witnessed "this kind of upsurge in terrorism and Ekiti people are helpless as if there is no government."
The delegates were emphatic in their demands saying, "only Asiwaju Segun Oni we know and trust that will not play politics with security of our lives and property. He is a man of God; he has the fear of God and has the political will to restore security and normalcy to the state."
The delegates, who said in Yoruba that "o to gee (enough is enough), recalled that the immediate-past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration "did not give these criminals breathing space and never allowed them to have foothole in Ekiti, because the former governor would never accept nonsense.
They stated further that "the criminals are operating freely with minimum check by the government and security agencies, as if they had assisted the APC in wining the 2018 election, and as if they are now being rewarded indirectly by the government.
"For instance the people of Ikole, Oye, Moba, Ilejemeje, Ise, Emure, Ekiti-East, Ikere, Ekiti-West, Ijero and Efon local government areas of the state have been living in distress and apprehension, following continuous attacks on the areas by the criminals.
"What is agitating the minds of Ekiti people right now is a total stop to insecurity, so that farmers can return to farm and people are able to do their businesses or move freely without fear of being kidnapped or killed."
Adelusi said that in the last three years, the state had been under siege and people were being kidnapped both in the day and night
for ransom.
"People are afraid to travel and if the traveling is compulsory, people now consult their pastors, alfas and Ifa priests for prayer."
He said farmers were afraid to go to their farms, a development causing avoidable rise in prices of foods and cost of living, particularly in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
The EBBB spokesman said in 2019, a former member of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Adedeji, was gunned down along Ikere - Ise road. In 2020, an overseas-based Ekiti man, who came home to establish farming business, was kidnapped on his farm and his security personnel shot along Ijan-Ekiti road, adding that "four other people were kidnapped at Ajebamidele Area of Ado-Ekiti around 8:30 p.m. late last year."
He said the gory tales were alarming, adding that "between 2019 and 2022, many people, including monarchs, lawmakers, doctors, expertriates, investors, foreign contractors, lecturers, top civil servants, teachers have been kidnapped and later released after huge ransoms had been paid.
"Many farmers have been killed or maimed while working on their farms, while their wives and daughters were rapped. Yet, the John Kayode Fayemi-led administration did nothing to stop the menace and the APC has the gut to wish to continue in power."
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