Sultan, Ooni, Aregbesola identify corruption, insecurity as bane of dev

Photo: 

Sun News Publishing 

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola 

 

 By: 

 BAMIGBOLA GBOLAGUNTE, Osogbo

 

Date: 

Tue, 06/12/2012 

Osun State Governor,  Rauf Aregbesola and two prominent traditional rulers, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar and Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade yesterday identified corruption and insecurity as the major problems affecting the growth and stability of the country. 

Aregbesola, Ooni and the Sultan, who spoke in Osogbo, Osun State capital at the 5th General Assembly of the Conference of Traditional Rulers where over 200 first class traditional rulers from across the country gathered, therefore, called on President Goodluck Jonathan to address the two problems.

They urged President Jonathan to concentrate on the prevention of terrorism in the country, saying the current security challenges in the country portend serious dangers to the stability of the country, adding that the president should consult traditional rulers to provide a lasting solution to security problems.

Aregbesola, who noted that security was a serious business, said the roles of traditional rulers towards ensuring security in the country could be underestimated. The governor also attributed the elusive peace and protracted conflicts and violence bedevilling the country to the absence of true federalism.

Aregbesola, while appealing to royal fathers to prevail on the Federal Government to give recognition to the late Chief MKO Abiola’s victory, said: “We demand for recognition of the victory of Nigerians over disunity, backwardness, poverty and primordial sentiments which MKO’s sweeping victory on June 12, 1993 represented.”

Besides, the governor decried the lack of specific roles for the traditional rulers in the nation’s constitution, saying the omission had led to calls from prominent traditional rulers for concrete constitutional roles for the nation’s monarchs.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, said the meeting could not have come at a better time than now to discuss the issue of security and corruption in the country. The Sultan said if the nation could tackle the twin problems of security and corruption, other things would fall in line, saying a nation could not develop in the face of corruption and pervading insecurity.

On his part, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Sijuwade said: “It is not what the extremists did by their action that is our concern. It is the action that we take individually and collectively that will save the face of humanity.”

 

SOURCE: 12 June 2012