Oyo Govt Chooses Dialogue With Thugs, Cult Groups

By James Orji

Barely one week after a bloody clash between loyalists of Lamidi Mukaila, alias Auxiliary, leader of -Oyo State Motor Park Manager System, OSPMS and supporters of Sunday Igboho, detained Yoruba self-determination fighter, heightened tension in Ibadan the state’s capital, the state government said it has resolved to dialogue with contending groups.

The clash occurred around Soka Area with at least one person said to have been killed. Angry residents have in response demanded a strong action from the state government against the thugs.

But the government said it has decided to give the hoodlums time to repent before a decisive action will be taken against them.

The Governor Seyi Makinde-led government said it will give different cult groups and area boys causing violence in the Pacesetters’ state, ample time to turn a new leaf failure which the government will clamp on them, soon.  

Critics of the administration insist that hoodlums in the state, particularly members of the transport union and other violent groups are being treated with kid gloves, despite the fact that they are making life unbearable for residents.

But speaking on the position of the state government on the issue, the state Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Wasiu Olatunbosun said the state government has decided to have a dialogue with the hoodlums first, after which decision will be reached on how to deal with them.  

Olatunbosun said on Thursday, after a closed-door meeting with representatives of different militant groups, including Agbekoya, Odua People’s Congress, Vigilante Group of Nigeria, in Ibadan, the state capital, that the government took the option of dialogue in order to promote peace among rival groups.

According to him, “the State Executive Council is aware of the activities of cultists and cult groups in the state. We hope to hold a meeting with them.

“Oyo State Government, under the leadership of Governor Seyi Makinde is determined to put a stop to this clash among cult groups and ‘area boys’. To this end, we in collaboration with all the militant groups in the state, are taking the message of peace to the den of these cultists.

“We will try to convince them to be disarmed and return to their homes peacefully. Afterwards, there will be a clampdown on activities of ‘area boys’ and cult groups who fail to cooperate with us.”

Meanwhile, critics of the state government insist that the Makinde-led administration’s resolve not to take a hardline posture against the hoodlums may not be unconnected with their assistance during the last governorship election in the state. “Governor Makinde will still need them for the next election, You cannot throw the baby away with the bath water, what the government has planned to do is the right thing; to fish out the bad eggs among them, punish them and ensure that they do not disturb the peace in the state,” a top PDP stalwart in the state said.