By Banji Ayoola
The Federal Government declared on Sunday that it would deploy soldiers to man the highways as one of the options, towards addressing the escalating security challenges in the country.
It made the declaration at the Akure, Ondo State home of Afenifere National Leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, whose daughter, Mrs Funke Olakunrin, was killed by bandits on Friday.
Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, who had come on behalf of the Federal Government on a condolence visit to Fasoranti, assured that the Federal government will deploy all options to put an end to the security challenges in the country.
To him, the death of Mrs. Olakunrin, who was killed by suspected herdsmen on Benin – Ore road as massive tragedy.
He said that the Federal Government is working towards a workable overhauling of the nation’s security architecture, disclosing that President Muhammadu Buhari has met with all the Security Chiefs towards re-strategising on the war against security breaches.
He arrived at the Fasoranti residence at exactly 9:10am accompanied by Ondo State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, stating that the Federal government would explore all options, including deploying soldiers on the highways, towards addressing the worsening security challenges of the country.
Osinbajo confirmed that the Inspector General of Police has also laid out a new policy on community policing to enhance intelligence gathering while assuring Nigerians that the government is committed to providing all logistics to prosecute the fight against criminality.
He appealed to Nigerians to be calm while assuring that the present administration remains committed to security of lives and property.
His words: “As you know, I am here to commiserate with the families of Olakunrin and Pa Reuben Fasoranti.
“This is a massive tragedy as you can imagine. We have seen it replicated here and there which is kidnapping, death and killings.
“As you all know, the President has very recently met not only the Service Chiefs but also the IGP and he has laid out a new policy of the community policing.
“One of the most important things in this sort of crime is that they are largely economic crimes, people try to make money by kidnapping.
“One of the most important things is intelligence gathering; that is why we have the community policing system where policemen would be trained in their own local governments and they would remain there. This is as close as we get to the community policing structure that we expect to have.
“The other thing of course is that we are also engaging the Army so that there will be a bit of more military presence especially along the road. The Inspector General of Police has already committed to ensuring that there is full coverage of the police and even helicopters.”
He promised that the security agencies were working “to fastening the search for these killers and also to ensure that there is adequate presence to deter this kind of terrible situation from reoccurring.”
His words: “We are looking at the whole security architecture and trying to ensure that we are able to scale up and ensure that we are able to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians.
“Security in a big country like Nigeria as you can imagine. The challenge is dynamic and the we also have to be consistently dynamic to ensure that we are able to beat the challenges as they appear.
“I think that we can be very hopeful that we would see peace and calm as some of the steps we are taking come fruition. You know also we met with the governors in South West and in the different zones and everybody is coming to ensure that security is adequate and everyone feels safe and secure.”
He said that on Saturday night, he had spoken on phone with the bereaved elder statesman.
He had tweeted: “I spoke earlier today with Pa Reuben Fasoranti, on the sad news of the death of his daughter, Mrs. Funke Olakunrin.
“I pray the Lord comforts him and the entire family.
“Our security agencies have been tasked with ensuring (that) perpetrators of this crime are apprehended and brought to justice.”
