By Banji Ayoola
The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ondo State, has declared its full support for Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu over his quit order on herdsmen from the state’s forest reserves.
The party, speaking through its State Director of Media and Publicity, Mr Steve Otaloro, said: “We are solidly standing with Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on his decision to ban all unauthorised persons from the state’s forest.”
He said the governor’s decision result from “serious and troubling cases of kidnappings and killings in the state.”
His words: “Not too long ago, a first class traditional ruler was killed. You know this people just came in from nowhere and started shooting. It has been something that the state doesn’t have to condole any longer. So the governor was right in that decision.”
He said that the order was not targeted at anybody or group of people in particular, noting that “those being directed to leave the state forest were unauthorised people in the forest.”
According to Otaloro: “And in the case of the herders, what that decision or order says is that there are some registered herders that are known in the state, but if you are not registered, you don’t have any business being in the state. So we intend to control, who and who are in the various state’s forest.
“By this decision, we have been able to apprehend those, who are unauthorised to be in the forest.”
Believing that the quick response of the presidential spokesperson, Mr Garba Shehu, was uncalled for, he said: “Because when these cases of kidnappings and killings became very pronounced in the state, nobody from the presidency came to the state’s rescue.
“And if the state government is now taking a decision that will safeguard the lives and properties of our people, we think it’s the right decision.
“So as a political party, we are backing the governor on this. We are watching him, we are with him and we believe it’s a decision that will totally eradicate this terrible wanton killings from the state.
“These killings are just too much and the state can no longer allow these to continue. That’s the more reason this government is taking this drastic decision, which we believe is a measure to guide against further unnecessary killings in the state.”
