The Ooni of Ife in the Southwestern part of Nigeria, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II has cautioned against politicizing the tension mounting in the Southwest over the rising insecurity in the region.
The Ooni, who conferred privately with President Muhammadu Buhari today, January 27 at the Presidential villa, Abuja, told newsmen after the meeting that the best way forward out of the situation is to separate the bad eggs from the good eggs and take politics out of it.
“We don’t want any politics to be mingled with it. We the traditional rulers, we know the good, the bad and the ugly in our domains. So it is a very clear strategy.
“Those bad eggs we want to fish them out; politics is different from taking out the bad eggs from the good eggs and it is the blessing of Mr. President we have gone for.
“So any time we are sensing politics, we the traditional rulers we have to cry out”
Ooni said that as the co-chairman of National Council of Traditional Rulers, it is his responsibility and duty to make sure that politicians do not hijack the security situation, and will do everything possible, along with other members of the Council, to ensure that everything is right and in good shape
He said that the President had assured that it is not going to be a political thing “because we all know the problem all over the country. We have a lot of bad eggs that mix across the entire country and we having that issue again in the Southwest.
“So I am here as the co-chairman of National Council of Traditional Rulers to get the assurance of Mr. President that either of the parties won’t turn it to be a political funfair for us to just risk the lives of our people, our innocent citizens not only in the Southwest but the entire country.
“I am happy he has told me that I should assure other traditional rulers that we must work with them now. It is very important for us to work very closely with the government so that we can separate the good, the bad and the ugly.
“It is very important for us to separate the corn from the chaff because a lot of them are actually taking advantage of the porous border that we have but to the glory of God, they are doing what is called e-border now in Nigeria and it is very efficient and we all need to work with them.
“Even our governors and other political rulers in different states Mr. President has assured that they must work with the traditional rulers so that we can actually separate the good from the bad and get the right society in proper perspective.”
