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The national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, joined some leaders of the Yoruba socio-Cultural organisation, Afenifere, for a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja where they discussed the insecurity in the southwest.
The Yoruba leaders, who were led to the villa by Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, also presented some demands to the president, including the implementation of true federalism.
Durojaiye said the huge cost notwithstanding, it might be worthwhile to take a bold step in combating crime by improving on security through the provision of the manpower need of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
He also urged the extension of the control of the police from the state to the local government level.
Durojaiye urged Buhari to consider recruitment, training and deployment of the police personnel on the basis of the 774 local governments listed in the First Schedule of the 1999 Constitution.
“We will be a greater nation if we sincerely practise true federalism and think and act as Nigerians rather than as champions of the smaller units we were born into. Our big size is an asset worthy of preservation,” he declared.
Afenifere also said the country was in dire need of development in the power and agricultural sectors especially in the field of afforestation, irrigation and revival of agricultural products like cocoa, groundnut, cotton, palm products and processing them for domestic consumption and export.
Tinubu told newsmen after the meeting that its essence was to thank the president and congratulate him on his re-election.
Corroborating Afenifere’s earlier remarks, Tinubu, who said there was a shortage of police personnel, urged Buhari to look at the recruitment from the 774 local governments.
On the APC ‘Next Level’ Tinubu said that the government was working to diversify the economy to address the infrastructural deficit, poverty and insecurity.
In his remarks, Buhari told the Afenifere leaders that what the Southwest was facing was similar to what had been happening in the Northeast and North central regions, but pledged that his government would surmount the challenge.
“It is true that we have made some progress but there are still some problems which we are trying to solve within our physical and material resources. We campaigned in 2015 and this year it is security, economy and fighting corruption. These things are basic, ” he said.
