As part of the efforts to tackle crimes and criminals in their vicinity, the Ebira people living in Ondo State have announced the ban of all traditional festivals in their communities in the state.
The communities also urged the state Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, to establish the Amotekun posts in various communities where the Ebira people reside across the state, and enlist their indigenes in the state security network agency to assist in the fight against the criminal elements.
Speaking in Akure, the state capital on behalf of the Ebira people from Kogi State living in Ondo State, one of the leaders of the communities, Abiodun Umoru, said his people are ready to join hands with the security agencies to fight insecurity in the state.
Umoru, who expressed displeasure over the mention of one Idris Ojo, who was an escapee from Kuje prison as one of those arrested for carrying out the massacre in Owo on June 5, 2022, a month after, said some steps had been taken to ensure that criminals were flushed out of Ebira community.
According to him, one of such steps was banning traditional festivals in Ebira communities in the state; saying anybody who wanted to hide under traditional festivals to perpetrate evil in the state would be handed over to the security agents.
He said, “We can no longer fold our arms while some of our kinsmen will be acting against our cherished cultural norms and values.
“We have warned and educated our women who sell food items at strategic locations on the major roads of the dangers of hobnobbing with suspected criminals by volunteering information to them.
“We use this medium to appreciate the present administration for its tireless efforts at reducing the rate of criminality across the state. We pledge not to relent in our commitment to continue to contribute our quota to the socio-economic and political development of the sunshine state.”
