To find a lasting solution to the insecurity ravaging Edo State, the Okuokpellagbe of Okpella, Lukman Akemokue, has formed a joint security comprising local hunters and herders in the community.
The monarch disclosed this during a meeting on the escalation of kidnapping and insecurity in Edo North and the way forward.
He said the escalation of kidnappings and herders–farmers hostilities in Edo North tilts more towards the use of wrong strategy.
He emphasised that the blanket profiling that all Fulani herders are kidnappers and that all kidnappers are Fulani herders constitutes the wrong foundation upon which any sustainable solution can be found.
He stressed that not all Fulani herders are kidnappers.
“Most of the sedentary ones who live with us are not involved in the nefarious acts. They are also victims of kidnapping, killing and cattle rustling. Not all the kidnappings and other related crimes in our communities are carried out by the Fulani herders, our people are also involved. We will get it right if we sincerely appreciate and embrace these facts.
“In Okpella, we are already formulating a security strategy that replaced ethnic profiling with collaboration. We formed a joint security body comprising our local hunters and the herders, most of whom are also good hunters.
“I got the Sarki Fulani in Okpella, Mallam Ali, to bring to my palace all the sedentary Fulanis who have been living with us for ages. I then invited Engr Saleh Kuba, the National Secretary General of Myetti-Allah Kauta Hore, a close ally in ABU Zaria, to have a conversation with the herders for more confidence building.
“What came out of these series of strategic engagements was both revealing and troubling. We have a hot iron on our hands, but there is hope. We immediately devised both immediate and long-term operational methodologies.
“We are getting results! Many kidnappers have already been apprehended and handed over to the police and are facing investigation and prosecution.
“The culprits comprise Fulani, Ebiras, Igalas and Okpella criminals! Kidnapping is not an ethnic thing, it is an organised crime,” he explained.
The monarch lamented that kidnapping is now an organised business with collaboration spanning various value chains and different ethnicities.
He said the value chain starts with the monitors who monitor potential victims and inform the next guys on the chain, called grabbers.
He said the monitors and grabbers are the indigenes.
The grabbers, he explained, then take the victims to the bush and sell them to the group called ‘off-takers’ at a price that is predetermined by the value placed on him/her by the monitors.
The off-takers then take the victims to a safe place and negotiate ransoms. The ransom is then collected by another group in the value chain called ‘collectors’ who collect the ransom and hand it to the off-takers for a fee.
He said the entire kidnapping criminal enterprise and its value chain are sustained this way.
His words: “While these organised criminals collaborate to cause us sleepless nights and workless days, we soak our hearts with the blood of ethnic profiling that deprives us the solution. The criminals succeed while we fail. This is what happened in the case of Uromi-16.
“As the Okuokpellagbe of Okpella, it is my responsibility to work with the security agencies to ensure the safety and security of everybody in Okpella, whether indigenes or not.
“It is also my responsibility to ensure all the companies and their workers are safe for them to continue to operate in, and add value to my community. It is when the workers are safe that they can go to work and be even more productive. It is only when there is security of lives and property that the workers will also invest their earnings in businesses in Okpella, thereby boosting our shared prosperity.”
He declared that for the overall effectiveness and sustainability of this strategy, he has engaged two security experts to work with the security agencies and develop a robust security architecture.
Once it is ready, he said, they will find the money to implement and sustain it.
According to him, the strategy emphasises collaboration with all the kingdoms and communities in Edo North, on one hand, and with interstate border communities in Kogi State.
“To stem the tides of this terrible situation, I crave the indulgence of my colleagues, the Royal Highnesses in Edo North, to embrace this strategy in your domains,” he pleaded.
