An NGO, Advocacy for Advancement of Peace and Harmony in Africa Initiative(ADAPHAI), has called out the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, over what it termed a lukewarm approach to sensitive security issues by the state government, adding that he has not exhibited requisite qualities of a leader.
The group alleged that while a part of the state is under constant attacks by the marauding herders from a neighbouring country, the governor pretended as if nothing was happening.
ADAPHAI, in a press statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Sulaimon Suberu and made available to pressmen in Lagos on Thursday opined that the lives of people living in the border towns of Ogun State have been made miserable and brutish due to socioeconomic quagmire caused by herdsmen.
It insisted that the governor has woefully failed in its responsibility as the chief security officer of the state and the head of the executive arm.
According to the statement, every sphere of life in the affected areas is in jeopardy adding that criminals are capitalizing on the ineptitude of the government to continue unleashing terror on the innocent citizens.
” It seems Governor Dapo Abiodun is sleeping and totally forgot his primary obligation as a governor of the state, as stipulated by section 14, subsection 14b of the 1999 constitution as amended.
”The security and welfare of the people at the borderlines of Ogun State in Yewa North are under suffocating siege of marauding herdsmen, while the Governor looked the other way as if nothing was happening, including the Senator representing Ogun West Senatorial District at the Senate, Tolu Odebiyi.
”While the Governor embarked on a jamboree at the detriment of sensitive issues like security, the Senator callously remained silent and inertia, leaving the vulnerable people to their fate.
”It is utterly disheartening and inconceivable that the chief security officer of a state has not deemed it fit to visit the trouble area or even send a representative since the beginning of this crisis.
”It is equally unbelievable that while other governors in the zone are working assiduously to complement Federal security arrangement through an outfit like ‘Amotekun’ for local security intervention and intelligence gathering mechanism, Governor Dapo Abiodun has not considered it necessary to inaugurate the Ogun version of the Western Nigeria Security Network.
”We are therefore calling on the Governor to wake up from his slumber and work to justify what he is collecting monthly on behalf of the people of the state as a security vote”, the statement read in part.
Herdsmen: You ‘re not in charge, NGO blasts Dapo Abiodun, Sen Odebiyi