Traditional Rulers under the aegis of Lagos State Council of Obas and Chiefs on Tuesday commended Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and security agencies on the successful rescue of the Oniba of Iba, Oba Goriola Oseni.
The Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, who led the traditional rulers to the Lagos House, Ikeja, said he and his colleagues were on a “thank you” visit to the governor to commend him for the immense role he played towards the successful rescue of the Oniba.
He said the efforts of security agencies, coupled with the valuable information provided by Nigerians came in handy in the investigation process.
“First of all, we should thank God almighty for sparing our lives to enable us see today and bringing one of us, Oba Oniba, who was kidnapped back home.
“We’ve come to say a big thank you to the governor of Lagos State, the commissioner of police, DOC 81 Division, the SSS and all other security forces and the entire Lagos State and Nigerians in general for the valuable information given to the police, which led to the successful operation which brought our colleague back,” Akiolu said.
He however urged traditional rulers in the state to see the incident as a call for greater attention to be paid to security, noting that the business of protecting lives and property should not be left to security agencies alone.
Akiolu also warned vandals and kidnappers to steer clear of Lagos, saying that security has been fortified to wage war against every form of criminality anywhere in the state.
“It is in their interest to desist and look for other legal ventures to make ends meet. The mere fact that the economy appears not to be okay does not mean that you resort to criminality. They should stop, not just kidnapping, but any form of criminality, no religion accepts such. Everybody is at alert now, we are on their toes now and with the encouragement given by the Chief of Naval Staff, the NSA and the IGP they will be chased down to anywhere they are,” he said.
Responding, Governor Ambode said that the state government deployed its security intelligence to unravel the circumstances surrounding the kidnap of Oba Oseni.
“At the initial stage, when the Oba was kidnapped, it appeared as if government was not doing anything. That was actually not the case. It was not just a sacrilege in Yorubaland, but the traditional institution was indeed desecrated. So, we needed to dig into what really happened to reach a logical conclusion,” he said.
Ambode while commending Oba Akiolu and other members of the traditional institution in the state for the support and concern during the period, assumed them that such incident would never occur again.
