By Oludamisi Ojo
Determined to reduce the spate of kidnapping and banditry, the Ajoni Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of the state, has established a Security Trust Fund to facilitate joint task security operations.
This is to combat criminalities in the area.
Similarly, the Council had commenced palliative works on bad portions of roads in the Council through minor rehabilitation works.
It would be recalled that banditry and kidnapping have been a lot of Ajoni, the communities that share a border with Kwara State.
With this development, many had been raped and abducted, with ransoms running into millions paid by victims to regain freedom.
Speaking with reporters in Ado Ekiti, on Wednesday, the Chairman of the Council, Hon. Michael Ogungbemi said the security fund would be a pool of money that would be drawn from the Local Government, Corporate bodies, and the communities that constitute the LCDA.
He said to further strengthen security and entrench enduring peace, the leadership of Ajoni LCDA was proactive enough to introduce operation EBBORAC to combat bandits at the borders of rural Ajoni communities through surveillance, patrolling, and intelligence gathering.
According to him, the joint operation that will be prosecuted by Army, police, NSCDC, Peace Corps, and Amotekun personnel, would be funded through the Security Trust Fund that will be sustained through financial contributions of our LCDA, traditional rulers, and their communities as well as private business organizations.
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Ogungbemi said the arrangement would enhance the collective responsibility for the peace and security of Ajoni communities and the people.
He said” All these were geared towards complementing and solidifying the developmental strides of our Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and to add value to the colossal success of his administration”.
Ogungbemi added that the LCDA had also begun palliative works on bad portions along Odo Ayedun – Ayebode to Lagos and Abuja, to curtail the alarming incidences of kidnapping and banditry and ease transportation activities in that axis.
Besides,he said the remarkable action was a follow-up to the recommendations during a series of security and stakeholders’ meetings held in the council.
