By Shina Abubakar

A coalition of civil society organisations in Osun State, The Osun Masterminds, TOM, and the Osun State government, yesterday, expressed divergent views over the rising spate of insecurity in the state.

While TOM urged Governor Ademola Adeleke to tackle the menace headlong, the state government said it was hunting down criminals in the state, to make it safer.

Addressing journalists in Osogbo, the group’s Executive Director, Dr Wasiu Ali-Oyedokun, urged the governor to revamp security architecture, especially the Amotekun Corps to combat the menace before it escalates.

Ali-Oyedokun said: “It is sad to note that today we are here again to speak about a persistently rising level of insecurity in our dear State. It is a sad reminder to us that the State capital, and the whole state by extension, is now being thrown into a worrying situation of insecurity and a reign of terror.

“Recent kidnapping and robbery incidents are a sad reminder that we have done nothing concrete to arrest the worsening situation of insecurity in the State. We must arrest this situation immediately before the State is plunged into unrest.

“We again advise the Governor to engage all security agencies in the State, including the state-owned Amotekun Corps, and work out new modalities with them that will ensure the security of lives and properties. 

“The perpetrators of armed robbery, killings and kidnappings that are fast becoming a regular occurrence in Osun, must be brought to book and quickly too. The Governor must act now to restore confidence and secure this society.”

We’re cracking down on criminals —Govt

Reacting, the Secretary to the State Government, Teslim Igbalaye said the state government is hunting down criminals to make the state a safer place.

The SSG, in a statement by Governor Adeleke’s spokesperson Olawale Rasheed, said security agencies are taking proactive steps to curtail the menace.

The statement reads: “The reports from the field show that the police, and other security agencies, have been up and doing in combating crimes.”