South-West residents paid N3bn ransoms to bandits in two years – Gani Adams

The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, had said that the South-West region had paid about N3billion as ransom to kidnappers in the last two years.

According to Tribune, Adams stated this on Thursday at the South-West Security Stakeholders’ Conference organised by the South West Security Stakeholders’ Group, with the theme” “Stemming the tide of insecurity in South-West Nigeria: A Criminology Therapy,” held in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

He disclosed that no fewer than 200 lives were lost as a result of insecurity in the region in the years under review.

Adams noted that if the leaders fail to act on the development, the region may record the same incident being experienced in the Northern part of the country.

He appealed to the Federal Government to consider regionalism as a way out of the present situation in the country.

“There’s a need for self-government or regionalism in the country where governors would control the police and other security architectures of their states.

“At every point in time in the region, insecurity has reached an alarming rate and there is the need for us to take drastic action towards ending the prevailing scourge,” he said.