Oyo State governor, ’Seyi Makinde, has pledged the continuous support of his administration to the Nigerian Army and other security agencies in the state.
The governor, while receiving the new Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Farouk Yahaya, who was on a working visit to the state, said that his government would always go after criminals across the length and breadth of the state.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Taiwo Adisa.
The governor thanked the General Officer Commanding, and the officers and men of the 2 Mechanised Division, Ibadan, for securing the lives and properties of the people of the state.
The governor said; “Let me use this opportunity to thank the GOC and the officers and men of the 2 Mechanised Division for the support they have been giving to us at the state level.
“My security team members are seated out there and they will agree that without the cooperation of the GOC and his team, and also other arms of the Armed Forces that are here, we would not have achieved the results we have achieved. They have been supporting us.
“We have gone through challenges where people tried to stoke ethnic tension here. But we all rallied round and said don’t do ethnic profiling here.
“What we do is to go after criminals irrespective of where they are from. We don’t care about their state of origin, their ethnic background. Once we see any criminal, we go after them.
“I believe that once, I called the GOC, he may or may not be aware of the incident with the Customs. There was an initial one where a young officer lost his life around the border area when some foreigners were trying to come in but we stood our ground together.
“And we also had a recent one where we got Customs officials coming in from Abeokuta with some Army officers. They worked together with our Amotekun and we were able to resolve the issue.
“So, I want to plead that we continue on that cooperation between us. And, as a government, we can give you the assurance that we will do everything humanly possible to provide support and also cooperate with you.”
Earlier, Lt.-Gen. Yahaya said the visit was to appreciate the governor for improving the well-being of the Nigerian Army.
He promised that soldiers would continue to do their best in securing the state.
He also pleaded that the state government would extend the development projects to the Army barracks.
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