The Aare onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, has said the South West Security Stakeholders Group under his leadership are fully geared to work with security agencies in the country to ensure the incessant killings and kidnapping on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway stop within two months.
The Aare said, the recent sporadic attacks on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway were not unexpected, and that he had raised the alarm on the imminent attacks much earlier, even as the expressway is becoming too volatile for travellers.
In a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi, on Monday, Aare Adams stated that the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is too strategic to the southwest region and Nigeria as a whole.
He added that the South West Security Stakeholders Group under his leadership, had earlier raised the alarm last year while seeking partnership with the security agencies on the need to provide the needed surveillance along the road.
The Yoruba general also pointed out, that the alarm raised by the SSSG was contained in a letter dated November 4, 2022, which, he said was forwarded to both Oyo and Ogun governors, state commissioners of Police and the Director of state security services in both states.
Adams insisted that the alarm came from the intelligence report at the group’s disposal, which he said had been neglected by the security agencies.
“It is sad that you find yourself in a situation where you feel helpless resulting from the lackadaisical attitudes of the security agencies to the security challenges affecting us in the Southwest.
“The SSSG had severally offered to assist the security agencies in curtailing the security challenges along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
“Our intention is to partner with the police patrol team in ensuring that strategic road is safe for travellers.
“The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is very strategic to the southwest and Nigeria and it will be disastrous for us to ignore the road, making terrorists and kidnappers kings of the most important road in Nigeria, even at the expense of travellers .
Adams, however, gave the assurance that the group is ready to partner with the police to flush out terrorists from the road, even as it would also continue its surveillance work in ensuring that the region is safe.
“Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has been volatile for travellers, with several cases of kidnapping on the increase with police officers killed, ex-UI Deputy Vice Chancellor, and students kidnapped as gunmen had turned the route into a haven for terrorists and kidnappers.
We are ready to flush out terrorists and the kidnappers from their hideouts along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway within two months. We are also ready to partner with the security agencies on surveillance, so as to curtail the spate of insecurity across the region”, he added.
