Ogbeni Lanre Banjo has denounced what he termed the unjustified attack on Ogun State indigenes by the security outfits in Oja Odan, Yewa.
Banjo said this in a statement on Sunday.
This was in reaction to the killing of one person and injuring of many on Saturday during a raid on Oja Odan by a combined team of the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police and the Nigeria Customs Service.
They security outfit was accused of raiding the town and shooting sporadically, claiming to be in search of smuggled goods, especially rice.
Banjo, in the statement, said: “For our people in Yewa area who frequently suffer in the hands of Fulani herdsmen to be under attack from the authority expected to protect them is abomination. For the combined team of Nigerian Army, Police and Nigeria Customs Service to contemptuously invade a peaceful town, raid stores and shoot indiscriminately, kill an innocent citizen, while others are in critical conditions, and raid market stalls, they must have thought they would go unpunished.
“The Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Head of the Custom in Ogun State as well as the Head of Nigerian Army in Alamala barrack need to roll up their sleeves to investigate this attack and brazen impoverishment of Nigerian citizens in an economy that has already imposed untold hardship on citizens.
“They must jointly put measures in place to deter future attack of those they are supposed to protect.
“The Ogun State government, known for championing the cause of its citizens, must also investigate this barbaric action and cause the culprits to be brought to book.
“Both the state and federal legislators must act decisively to nip in the bud the barbaric incidents in the neighboring border towns of Yewa North and Imeko-Afon local government areas of Ogun State.
“These cases include the herdsmen harassment of Nigerians in the area, which has been happening in this area of Ogun State before it went wild to Benue and other parts of the country.
“If we fold our arms, their Immigration counterpart would soon join by deporting Nigerian citizens into the neighboring Benin Republic and charge them fees to return to Nigeria.
“When innocent citizens are wounded by herdsmen, Customs, Army and Police and there is no hospital to go to and because they are unconnected citizens, no governor or President would order them to be flown abroad for medical treatments, people would be left with no choice but to defend themselves.
“I commend the doctors of our revered former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, and the family for saving Nigeria thousands of dollars or pound sterling by tactfully refusing the approval of President Muhammed Buhari to fly Dr. Ekwueme abroad.
“Those who voted for Alhaji Sheu Shagari and Dr. Alex Ekwueme to earn this honour do not have that option.
“They paid for the piper, but our government would not give them the privilege to dictate the tune.
“If Dr. Ekwueme had been flown abroad and God forbid, if he passes away while in a foreign country, his lifeless body would have been flown back to Nigeria with our resources.
“These are the resources that would have been spent to cater for the welfare of poor Nigerian citizens.
“In a letter to the Wellington Hospital in London and signed by A. S. Ogah the acting High Commissioner on December 1, 2016, the Nigerian Government confirmed that the Nigeria High Commission in London will guarantee payment of all medical bills of Alhaji Abba Karri, the Chief of Staff to the President.
“We need good hospitals with state of the art medical equipment for all.
“This utter disregard for unconnected Nigerian citizens must stop.”
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