Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde has condemned, in its totality, the alleged assault on the officers of the Oyo State Road Transport Management Agency, OYRTMA, who were arrested and detained for apprehending an immigration personnel who violated traffic rules.
The Governor expressed this, during his courtesy visits to the victims, Mr Nurudeen Abiola, resident at Binukonu Olunloyo Area and Mr Taiwo Adeagbo, resident at Oke-‘Badan area as well as the Nigeria Immigration Service, Oyo State Command on Monday.
Governor Makinde described the incident as an unfortunate one that should never have happened, noting that Oyo State wants to be known for upholding the rule of law and everyone must obey traffic rules, irrespective of their status.
He assured the victims that his government would take necessary action and bring the culprits to book.
“The fact that you work for a federal agency does not mean you are superior. So, I have asked the Honourable Attorney-General to ensure we follow this through.
“We will write to the Immigration authorities and prosecute the people involved, as this is not acceptable in Oyo State,” he added.
Also speaking at the office of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Agodi Gate, Ibadan, where he was received by Comptroller Abdulrasheed Ademola, Governor Makinde advocated a better intra and inter-agency cooperation among security agencies in the state.
He equally declared that there must not be a recurrence of such incident, saying: “Oyo State is known for inter- and intra-agency cooperation. So, the incident is very unfortunate.
“I have asked the State’s Comptroller of Immigration that they should cooperate with us. Yes, they said this thing happened at the zonal level. There is an ACG in charge of the zone, who we plan to reach out to.
“I have been assured by the Nigerian Immigration Service, Oyo State Command, and also the zone, that they will cooperate with us to get to the bottom of this matter and ensure that this does not happen again.”