The National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, has warned that Nigeria risks severe security breakdown in the coming months if urgent steps are not taken to establish state police across the federation. Adams, who expressed deep concern over the rising wave of banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism, said Nigeria must not shy away from seeking external support to combat the persistent insurgency threatening national stability. Reacting to criticisms that he should personally lead his foot soldiers to secure the South West, the Yoruba generalissimo insisted that it would be inappropriate and counterproductive to intervene in any security operation without formal invitation or approval from the relevant government authorities. In this interview with OLADIPUPO AWOJOBI, Aare Adams spoke extensively on what must be done to restore peace in Nigeria, stressing that the situation has reached a point that demands urgent and decisive action. Excerpts:

What is your reaction to the insecurity that is ravaging the country, especially the South West?

Well, it is a serious issue and we are seriously concerned about it, especially when the wave of that insecurity is coming from the Middle Belt to the South West. What is happening in Kwara State and Kogi State is giving a lot of concern to the Yoruba people, especially the Kogi speaking Yoruba in Kogi and Kwara States and even other tribes too because all of us are human beings.

Yes lives are being taken at will, it must be a concern to any reasonable human being. And at the same time, we have some pock- ets of violence in the South West too, we have cases of kidnapping in some states, which we realised are being underplayed by the media.

We have to prepare ourselves for the defence of the region. When you are talking of insecurity, the only zone that is a bit safe in Nigeria is the South West. Talking of other geographical zones, there are a lot of issues there. I am even surprised by what is happening in Kano State because I always see Kano as a safe place before now.

But for the past one month now, almost on a daily basis, they are attacking people. We know insecurity and attacks are very rampant in Katsina Jigawa, Kebbi, Zamfara, and Sokoto States. We know that the issue is rampant in most of the Middle Belt. Talking about the South West, the reasons the issue of insecurity is reduced there is that, one, we have many groups, private groups, which are security relevant.

We have security relevant groups that are on ground that the police and security agencies partnered with such as the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Agbekoyas and other vigilante hunters that the security agencies and the community are using.

This is coupled with the efforts of the Amotekun Corps that was established by the governments, that are helping to reduce insecurity in the South West. However, all hands must be on deck to make sure that we do not allow them to come and cause a collateral damage in the South West because the information at our disposal is that they want to exterminate Yoruba people from Kwara and Kogi and then come to the South West.

So we have to prepare for defence of Yorubaland so that they will not come and destroy the economic nerve centre of Nigeria.

In view of this, what role do you think the traditional institutions should play, and for someone like you and other stakeholders, has the federal or state governments engaged with you on the issue of insecurity?

The Federal Government has not liaised with me. Even the governors have not liaised with me. Even the traditional rulers have not contacted me. I always speak with individuals, few individuals, on a personal level. But we are trying to coordinate some security-relevant groups individually because if this thing happens, part of the blame Yoruba people will be pushing, especially nonentities that do not know anything, is that what were we doing? But some of them will not know that we were not given any role.

We were not even carried along on the protection of Yoruba land. The government did not reach out to Aare Ona Kakanfo on the issue of security, I don’t know if it’s political. I don’t know what is behind it that the government will neglect someone that has about six million followers, that brought about 14 groups together to form a group six years ago; South West Security Stakeholders Group.

And every relevant group of security in Yoruba land is in that coalition. Some of them brought another group together, which is Yoruba Unitary Group. We even have groups in 104 countries; Oodua Progressive Union, and an- other coalition, Oodua Progressive Union in Diaspora, and another coalition of groups, which is Yoruba One Voice in Diaspora. You can’t neglect the effort and input of that person in that region.

I think the issue is that it has not yet got to that stage, maybe that is what they think, that it’s not yet up to that stage, may be that is the reason they haven’t called Aare Ona Kakanfo, because we’re supposed to be preparing now for any eventuality. We are supposed to be mapping out strategies between this group and the government.

There must be a central coordinating group platform that we can coordinate very well. Each community cannot use its own strategy to solve this problem without a platform that will have a regional coordination, and regional integration on security so that when these terrorists are moving from one place to the other, we will know that they are moving, we will have shared information, even be- yond government security agencies. If the government is thinking that they can do it on the basis of the government security agencies, they are deceiving themselves.

They should flashback yo what happened in the last #EndSARS protest. When #EndSARS happened, the government lost control on security, even the police in Lagos lost control. It was my group and I that were there to reduce that crisis. But if you have forgotten what happened just a few years ago, we are watching. But we will not fold our arms, we will be doing what we are doing at our own level to prepare because of the position that was given to me by our own traditional council because of the groups that we have on ground. So, in our own little way, we are preparing.

But have you made any proposal to the government, and will you support state police?

Well, I wrote to the government that it’s time for us. I don’t even know that the situation would get to this extent. We had foreseen that it will happen. So I wrote the South West governors that it was time for us to have a partnership. I told them that there should be partnership with the office of Aare Oka-kakanfo. But there was no response to that since almost two years now. By February 26 next year, it will be three years that I wrote that letter to them. I spoke about it at many events, in many fora, but they have not responded to it. You can’t force yourself on the government, you can’t intrude into the security and safety of the government without partnership. If we intrude into the security and safety without partnership, one will run into trouble.

In OPC, we have had a lot of bad experiences on securing some communities without getting the approval of the government. The experience we had on security activities from 1999 to 2006 are enormous, then we were participants in many security activi- ties without the approval of the government. I’ll give you a very good example. If landlords and the residents of an area want to organise security on their streets, they will inform the DPO that they are employing two, three, or four people to man their gates.

One, because the police can patrol the street anytime. When they do, they will realise that there are some security men who have locked a gate at so and so hours. And eventually, if the security guards hold cutlasses, just cutlasses, that’s a minor weapon to hold, they will understand. When the police get to the area and see them with cutlasses, they won’t arrest them that they are in possession of unlawful weapons not to talk of guns or other weapons.

So, they will not arrest them because they are in partnership with the landlord association of that area. If a community is running a full community security outfit, you have to contact the local government and the area commander, it goes beyond the DPO by then. You will tell them that you want to establish a community security and their number will be like 20. So they may be in charge of internal security of the community from may be 11pm to 6 a.m. So, when the police are patrolling, if and they see light weapons in their hands, they will not arrest them.

So the partnership starts on that level. But when you are talking about the entire South West, where you have to mobilise about 500 people to a forest of a community without partnering with the government of the state, you are in trouble because you that say you want to protect a community with a large number of security men and you are moving to the community or the forest with some light weapons, you have already signaled security threats to a part of the state. And when the government does not have the knowledge of it, the security officers will radio the government, it will go to the Chief Security Officer (CSO), the CSO will contact the government that there is a security threat in the community.

Then, the government will give an order that the police and mobile police officers should arrest them, the DSS would also move in. So you that want to come and become a protector will now be an accused, and you will be arrested, you will be tagged a criminal. So if there’s no partnership at that level, if you try it, you’ll be in trouble.

That was what we were explaining to the people because they should not have the mindset that Nigeria has turned to a banana republic. Some of our members that are involved in the security of some communities without the approval of the local governments have run into trouble. Maybe they just called them because they are OPC members, that they should come and help them and from there they got into trouble.

But, will you support state police and what’s your assessment of our security agencies in combating the activities of terrorism and banditry so far?

We need community police and community network police. There should be police by the local government and, the royal fathers are speaking up on this.

All the regions have now agreed with state police. Without having state police, we cannot do much, you can have state police that will be recruited into local government too. State police is the answer to our current security problem.

I told them during the public hearing on security called by the Senate Adhoc Committee at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, when people were saying different things, that ‘look, we don’t need to deceive ourselves, the only way to solve our problem now is to have state police and community security network.’ If we don’t do that, within three to four months, this country will be burned by the terrorists.

Yes, it will be burned down by the terrorists because the kind of arms these people are displaying on videos is much to the extent that they had guts to buy like 15 to 20 armoured tanks and showed them to the whole world.