Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has lambasted the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for carrying out an operation in Igangan without informing his government.
Naija News recalls that customs officers had stormed Igangan and its environs in Ibarapa Local Government of the state in a bid to arrest suspected smugglers leading to a clash with residents.
The raid also led to the death of the Coordinator of Amotekun in Ibarapa Central Zone, and two other people.
Speaking to some Muslims serving in his administration when they visited him for the Eid-el-Kabir celebration on Tuesday, Makinde vowed not to return the seized weapon of the operatives until he gets the attention of the Federal Government.
Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has insisted that Federal security operatives must henceforth inform states before carrying out any covert operation.
He explained that he had instructed local government chairmen to involve traditional rulers as well as other voluntary residents in policing their areas.
“On security, most of the data in the past months shows that things are now improving. The Igangan incident, some days ago, was only falsified by some people who were saying that Fulani herdsmen had invaded Igangan again. The truth is actually about the NCS and smugglers. They know each other,” Makinde said.
“Customs officials were accused to have entered Igangan, which is not a border town. But we are working with Federal authorities and they have arrested most of them.
“The gun that was collected is still with us. I said I won’t release it until I get the attention of the Federal authorities.
“In the Constitution of Nigeria, Oyo State is a federating unit. We are not saying Federal agencies should not carry out their operations here. But they must tell us; they must inform us. They may not disclose the details of the operation to us, but we must know about it.
“If we had known about the operation, we would have pre-informed the security detail in the town and those who died could have been alive. The Amotekun Coordinator that died in Igboora would have still been alive today.
“How can you go operating in an unidentified vehicle in a town where the security tactics have been heightened? As they wanted to enter the town, they were confronted because we have heightened security in all of those places.
“So, we will keep appealing to them and to our people that false information won’t help anybody. Nobody will profit politically from the security issues we are faced with. It is our collective responsibility. The people will play their part and the government will play its own part.”
