adminThe Ogun state commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, Commandant Idris Ojelabi has urged all stakeholders to take part in the effort to eradicate cultism and other social vices in the state.
Ojelabi made this appeal on Wednesday during a courtesy visit by members of the Ogun NUJ Federated Chapel to his office at the command’s headquarters in Abeokuta, the state capital.
He maintained that “all hands should be on deck to develop moral education in our schools and home because the cultists live among us.
“Cultists come from our homes, somebody gave birth to them. The last clash that happened in Sagamu, the mother of one of them was killed. The sensitization of good morals must start from home, we need to re ignite that moral education.
“ All institutions should play their parts, the parents, religious leaders and all institutions need to play their parts in sensitizing these youths. We can engage incatch them young programs in primary and secondary schools.
“If we engage the youths in social education, I believe we’ll be able to mold then from the start and bring them up the way they’re supposed to grow so when they become adults, they would not deviate from it.
The State commandant while reeling out the command’s achievement in the past 23 months noted that peace and conflict resolution are other priorities for the command.
“ Last year alone over 700 cases were successfully handled by this command.
Including the facilitation of the recovery of over 5 million Naira.
“ Since I resumed leadership of the command, 20th February this year, my Agro Rangers Commander and his trained men have had series of meetings from one village to another, from the camp of the herdsmen to another, trying to sensitized them.
“There must be working relationship between the farmers and the herdsmen. We let the farmers know the difference between the herders and the Fulanis.
“The 76 years old man was arrested by the NSCDC, the the man has been arraigned to court so he has been remanded in prison till January 2024 for further hearing without an option of fine.
“ Also on in ijebu, we got a man for stealing and was taken to court and remanded for six months without the option of fine.
“Just yesterday, someone was arrested for trying to impersonate the NSCDC and we took him to court swiftly.
“People don’t see the faces of human wrongs but they see and capitalize on the human rights. People do complain about we parading the offenders so we decided to take them to court immediately we apprehend them.
“ For your information, the Civil Defense has the power to persecute in the name or on behalf of the Artorney General of the federation. We’ve been able to secure free hands form the Ogun State ministry of Justice so we can prosecute any case, be it criminal or civil.
“ To make our services more accessible to the people, we havea department called peace and conflict resolution unit where we adopt and embrace alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in handling conflicts especially civil conflicts.(4:20)
The chapel, led by its chairman, Juwon Opayemi, expressed gratitude to the command on it efforts, urged it to work harder and include the media in its operations.
In response, Commandant Ojelabi assured a full cooperation and promised to step up efforts to make Ogun state a peaceful place for everyone to live.
“I so much believe in working with others, we’ll work with the media. I want to assure you from henceforth we are ready to work with you more so that together we can build a better environment and peaceful state for all of us to live in and Nigeria in extention.
“The working slogan of The Civil Defense is defending the defenseless so we are there to do the work” he concluded.
