As Lagos
Monarchs Visit Gov
Governor
Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, on Friday, commended the measures taken so far
by the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and by extension the Federal
Government
to quell tensions generated by agitation from some ethnic nationalities seeking
to break away from Nigeria, saying that the unity of the country should be of
paramount importance to all.
Governor
Ambode, who spoke at Lagos House in Ikeja when he received on courtesy visit
members of the Lagos State Council of Obas and Chiefs led by the Oba of Lagos,
Oba Rilwan Akiolu, said as a State, Lagos would continue to support every
effort made to keep the unity of the country especially by maintaining peace
and accommodating all.
Speaking
against the backdrop of earlier comments by Akiolu to the effect that the
Council of Obas and Chiefs in the State were solidly in support of the peaceful
co-existence of people in the country, Governor Ambode said the oneness of the
country was of the essence, and that it was important for every segment of the
country to promote the unity of the nation.
He said: “I
also want to join the Chairman of Council of Obas and Chiefs in Lagos State to
reiterate our support for the Federal Government to keep the unity of Nigeria
and also uphold the tenets of the Constitution. We are very happy that all our
traditional rulers in Lagos believe in oneness of Nigeria.
“We are
happy also that we are very accommodating. We are also happy that we allow
people from other tribes to live with us and we are ready to do everything to
support the Acting President and the Federal Government in general that every
effort they make, we will ensure that Lagos remains peaceful and then Nigeria
remains peaceful,” Governor Ambode assured.
While
reiterating the commitment of his administration to frontally address security
issues in the State, Governor Ambode thanked the traditional rulers for
supporting his efforts to ensure safety of lives and property in the state.
“I want to
thank you for your support in terms of security. You are part of the security
architecture of Lagos State because without you, we will not get the
information we are using to reach out to the police and I also want to thank
you for supporting our Neighborhood Safety Corps initiative.
“Like I
said, it is about neighborhood safety and we have seen the hands of all our
monarchs in the operation of the corps. We believe strongly that we need to put
more efforts in the Neighborhood Safety Corps to make sure that this issue of
kidnapping and other criminal activities become a thing of the past within the
shortest possible time,” the Governor said.
Speaking
specifically on the children that were kidnapped at the Lagos State Model
College, Igbonla-Epe, Governor Ambode said at the moment, he would not want to
divulge details of efforts being made by government to end kidnapping and other
crimes in the State, but expressed optimism that the efforts would yield
positive results.
“Like I said
somewhere yesterday, I don’t like running government on the pages of newspapers
because sometimes when we do it, it will jeopardize what we are doing on
security which is why we have been very tactical about doing media trial in
things like this.
“But just to
let our monarchs know what we are doing, I feel very bad each time I hear about
this but again life and safety first thereafter we will deal with other things.
But to let you know truly that sometimes, some of these kidnapping issues are
actually from enemies within but I just pray that when the children comes back,
we will be able to talk about those things and so I just ask people to give us
some time as we gather intelligence,” he said.
Earlier,
Akiolu commended Governor Ambode for his efforts so far, and prayed for him to
have a successful tenure of office, saying that the giant strides of the
present government were appreciated.
He also said
that monarchs in the State were very much in support of the peaceful
co-existence of the country, adding that every tribe is welcome in Lagos.
“The
peaceful co-existence of everybody is what we are after in Lagos and I have to
say that Lagos is home to all,” Akiolu said.
Besides, the
monarch reiterated the call for Lagos to be granted Special Status, saying that
doing so would be to the overall benefit of the country.
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