Barely 48 hours after the abducted students and teachers in Orire, Ogbomoso, Oyo state were rescued, Governor Seyi Makinde has demanded a thorough probe of the incident.
The governor made the call during his statewide broadcast on Monday night, saying anyone or group found to have been culpable must be made to account for their actions.
The magazine had earlier reported that 44 victims were rescued on Sunday during a joint security operations involving the Army, Navy, Airforce, Police, DSS, Amotekun, and local vigilante. They have since been re-united with their families.
According to Makinde, the United Nations and global human right organizations must investigate what led to the abduction, and whether some state actors were culpable in the act.
According to him, external investigations of the incident will not only unravel the circumstances that led to the abduction, it will also strengthen public confidence in the system, reassure residents and restore confidence that every Nigerian child can attend school without fear that they will end up I the hands of criminals.
The state helmsman stressed that the his call for probe is not intended to undermine the efforts of Nigerian security institutions, but the need to unravel the “truth” describing the incident as ‘sufficiently grave”, which if left to domestic institutions which eh said may not have the capacity to get to the bottom of it.
He said, “The circumstances surrounding this incident are sufficiently grave and unusual to warrant independent scrutiny beyond our domestic institutions.
“I therefore, with a full sense of responsibility as the Executive Governor of Oyo State, call on the appropriate international human rights and accountability mechanisms, including those within the United Nations system, to closely examine the facts surrounding this abduction and the circumstances of its resolution.
“Such scrutiny is not intended to undermine our institutions. Rather, it is intended to reinforce public confidence that the truth will be established and that every person found to bear responsibility, regardless of office, influence, or affiliation, will be held accountable.
“Under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the primary responsibility for national security rests with the federal government and the security agencies under its command.”
Meanwhile, some sources in the state government who spoke with the magazine said the governor was only trying to clear his name, particularly following suggestions that his government has a hand in the abduction.
Following the abduction of the 45 victims on May 15, a former governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose had accused Governor Makinde of masterminding the abduction.
Fayose’s remark had drawn serious a flak from not a few Nigerians who accused him of politicising the incident. Governor Makinde had in his response described the former Ekiti Ekiti helmsman of lying against his government, saying he had nothing to do with the abduction.
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