Every single time there has been an attack or a kidnapping incident in any state in the Southwest, just as the recent one in Oyo state, my mind takes a detour to the recent past when the late governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN led an intentional debate around State Policing, which birthed the hitherto hugely successful Amotekun Security Outfit.
This again raises the constant questions surrounding Nigerian governors’ security responsibilities to the residents in their respective states. How do these governors treat intelligence reports made available to them? How much do they prioritize the security of the residents? How often do they conduct security meetings with heads of the various security agencies in their states where briefings will be brought to them?
Although National security indeed falls into the exclusive legislative list with the President having executive control over our security agencies, state governors need to be questioned on how well they’re supporting security agencies in their states. How well have they funded and collaborated with the agencies to protect people from bandits and terrorists?
It is very unfortunate that even the State-level Security Structure like Amotekun no longer get the needed support and funding from our governors. Our leaders have become nonchalant about the most critical aspect of their responsibilities to the people, but the scary part of this conversation is that our region is almost totally encircled by terrorists and bandits while Mr President and our governors are focusing on political calculations about who gets into available offices in 2027.
As the embers of Aketi’s intentional leadership fade into the background of current leadership incompetence, our region is burdened with a dangerous vacuum.
As a dark cloud of banditry and terrorism tightens around us in the region, now is the time to say it is not enough for the governors to take refuge under the lazy political umbrella of “Executive Legislative List”. While they don’t control the military and police, they command huge monthly allocations and state security councils which imposes serious moral mandate of the people on them.
The time to fund, and fiercely defend the Southwest is not in the next political dispensation, it is right now.
Ayodele E Ayeni
Social Critic and Essayist
