The Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom in Delta State, His Majesty, King Obukohwo Monday Whiskey PhD, Udurhie 1, has charged President Bola Tinubu to urgently hold a ‘security conference’ to fathom out ways to tackle the worsening security in the country.
The first-class traditional ruler noted that with royal fathers now being attacked, abducted and killed by bandits despite their sacred position in society, the situation could lead to total chaos and breakdown of law and order.
Udurhie 1 stated this on Monday during a press conference with newsmen at his palace in Jesse town (Otorho Idjerhe) while condemning the recent gruesome killings and abduction of some Yoruba monarchs.
The Idjerhe monarch explained that with the ‘security conference’, solutions will be proffered to already existing and emerging security threats taking into cognizance the peculiarities of the geopolitical zones.
Ovie of Idjerhe averred that it was almost impossible for any society to make progress amidst worsening security and called on President Tinubu to take the bold by convoking the conference and as well as implementing resolutions reached.
The revered Urhobo monarch also condemned the recent attacks by suspected herdsmen in Uwheru Kingdom in the Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta where a youth in the area was brutally murdered.
He lamented that due to frequent attacks by herdsmen on farmers, the people of Uwheru, known for their rich agricultural produce, have deserted their farmland for the fear of being killed by arms-wielding hoodlums.
“I have been having sleepless night over the state of insecurity in Nigeria and I believe that we look at these issues critically. Insecurity is beginning to assume a dangerous dimension that royal fathers are being abducted and murdered.
“We have now left the stage of bandits going to harass people, kill people in their farmland to royal fathers driving in federal government highways being abducted by self-styled bandits and all that. I believe that they are doing this to provoke national chaos and ethnic reactions.
The royal institution all over the world is a sacred institution, so I strongly believe it’s time for government to attack before insecurity consumes the entire nation. For instance, there is hardly any forest in the country that is not being occupied by these foreign elements.
“We cannot continue to keep quiet while people from foreign lands come to desecrate our traditional institutions, our farmlands, maim and kill our people, unchallenged.
“The case of Urhobo people today, in a lot of kingdoms, people now stay indoors; they cannot access their farmlands because some individuals have taken over. Uwheru is becoming a no man’s land.
“I am using the opportunity to call on the federal government to urgently act proactively. Convocate a very serious security conference where this issue would be put on the front burner. It would be suicidal for us to keep quiet and they overwhelm us”, the Idjerhe monarch posited.
Meanwhile, Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom also called on President Tinubu to direct International Oil Companies (IOCs) to urgently relocate their operational headquarters to the states of oil-rich Niger Delta region.
According to him, “The President took a bold step recently, when he directed certain department of the Central Bank of Nigeria to relocate to Lagos, because they have no reason being in Abuja. All banks headquarters are in Lagos and you put departments of CBN that monitors their compliance and operations in Abuja. It is costing so much money to go supervise banks’ operations in Lagos. Aviation’s headquarters are in Lagos, you want to control them in Abuja, and it’s costing so much to do.
The same should apply to oil multinationals. Your operations are in the Niger Delta. It is costing so much for you to monitor your operations from Abuja and Lagos. It is cheaper and wiser for the oil multinationals to relocate to Niger Delta region.
“Firstly, relocating will help monitor their facilities in the Niger Delta and also ensure that what is needed to be done to improve the living standard of the Niger Deltans is carried out. You cannot be flying chopper to the high seas to do operations, when these same measures can be taken from Warri, Port Harcourt, Uyo.
I am using this medium to call on Mr. President to ensure that the Local Content Policy of the federal government is operated to the latter word, by ensuring that oil multinationals relocate their operational base to where the crude oil, gas resources are. Look at the size of NNPCL, Shell offices in Warri and Uvwie. You left all those facilities and went to rent offices in foreign lands?”
