The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) and the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBN) held a meeting in Osogbo on Tuesday to fashion out ways of ensuring peaceful coexistence and improved security in Osun.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was apparently necessitated by the worsening security situation in Osun, where herdsmen have been on rampage in recent times, abducting and killing people on highways in the state.
Speaking at the meeting, Alhaji Leke Akintayo, the leader of the OPC in Osun, said the group was worried over the spate of abductions and other criminal activities in the state, blamed on herdsmen.
Akintayo said the OPC was ready to collaborate with security agencies to tackle the security challenges plaguing Osun in recent times.
He, subsequently, issued a seven-day ultimatum to leaders of MACBAN to fish out bad eggs among them in the interest of peace in the state.
Akintayo, who noted that the goal of the OPC since it was founded in 1998 was to protect lives and property, warned herdsmen perpetrating crimes to vacate the state or be ready to face the wrath of the law.
“We called for this peace meeting to find lasting solutions to the issue of security breakdown such as kidnapping, armed robbery and all sort of criminal activities in the state.
“Over the years, Osun State has been adjudged the most peaceful state in Nigeria until recently when criminals invaded our land and started kidnapping our people.
“We will use everything within our reach to ensure that the bad eggs among the Fulanis are flushed out of the state.
“We are law-abiding group. We are working in collaboration with the police, DSS, Civil Defence and other paramilitary groups to make sure we curb the menace of insecurity in our state.
“We want to sound a note of warning to these criminals to desist from terrorising our people.
“There is need for the good among the herdsmen to fish out the bad eggs among them within seven days in the interest of peace,’’ Akintayo stated.
The Chairman of the Osun State Branch of MACBAN, Alhaji Abdulahi Alilu, pledged to give maximum support to the OPC and other security agencies to curb insecurity in the state.
Represented by one Seriki Soliu, a member of the association, Alilu said that cattle breeders were also victims of kidnapping.
He promised to work closely with the OPC to ensure that criminals were brought to book.
Mr Muhammad Adam, the spokesman of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria also known as Fulani Intelligence Squad, assured that the group would work closely with the OPC to foster security in Osun.
