By Michael Ofulue, Osogbo

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Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has cautioned against the politicization of security services noting it poses a serious threat to the deepening of the nation’s democratic system.

Speaking while receiving the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Biodun Alabi, at the Government House Osogbo, the state governor called on security agencies to avoid political partisanship and focus on the impartial discharge of their state duties.

Stressing the need to deepen the country’s democracy, the governor emphasized the importance of respecting constitutional stipulations even as he described non-partisan security services as the insurance for a stronger democracy.

Adeleke, who described Osun as “a sensitive state,” said state governors and other elected officials have a duty in line with the constitution to create and ensure an atmosphere of peace for good governance, adding that the service chiefs have a lawful duty to obey lawful directives.

“Nigeria, as a federation, specifically structured its agencies to maintain national stability. The state governor is the Chief Security Officer. It would amount to an aberration for any service chief to disobey lawful directives for the maintenance of law and order. Never should anything be done to undermine the state leadership.

“On our part, we will not ask law enforcement officers to do anything illegal. As such, we will not tolerate any security officer taking illegal action or obeying illegal directives from non-state entities.

“Our state is rated as one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria. With our high literacy rate, our people know their rights. Their political literacy is super high. Osun is, therefore, a critical state for the unity and stability of Nigeria,” the Governor declared.

While commending the close partnership between the state government and the security agencies, Adeleke said his government places a high premium on law and order, adding, “We know and understand the importance of the security agencies, particularly the Nigerian police service.

“As a government, we provide strong logistics support for the security agencies to discharge their duties with ease.

 As we are doing much now, we will still be doing more in terms of strengthening the operational capacity of the police and other security services,” the governor told the DIG who was accompanied by top police officers.

Speaking earlier, DIG Alabi said he was in the state as part of a duty tour directive issued by the Inspector General of Police, noting the visitation was to get a situation report for the improvement of policing in the country.

I am here to gather feedback on our performance to assist the force leadership to implement ongoing reforms.

I bring best wishes from the Inspector General of Police as we assure you of our readiness to partner with the state government in her drive to sustain Osun’s records as one of the most peaceful states in the federation,” Alabi noted.

Both the Governor and the DIG hosted a mini-roundtable on the state of law and order in Osun State, with the police chief promising to take feedback to the force leadership in Abuja.