Adeyeye Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife, met with President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday over the high rate of insecurity in the country.
In an interview with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) after the visit, Ogunwusi said it was borne out of rising tension in the south-west and other parts of the country.
The monarch called on politicians to avoid mixing security with politics, adding that such situation will result in loss of lives.
“Well to the glory of God, I am here particularly because of all the issues of security threat here and there and to get the blessing of Mr. President. Hopefully, it won’t turn out to be very political because political parties might probably want to hijack it and to the glory of God as the co-chairman of National Council of Traditional Rulers, it is our responsibility and our duty to make sure that everything is right, all and sundry is in good shape,” he said.
“The president has assured that it is not going to be a political thing because we all know the problem all over the country, we have a lot of bad eggs that mix across the entire country and we having that issue again in the south-west.
“So I am here as the co-chairman of National Council of Traditional Rulers to get the assurance of Mr. President that either of the parties won’t turn it to be a political funfair for us to just risk the lives of our people, our innocent citizens not only in the south-west but the entire country.”
The monarch said traditional rulers will work closely with the government to ensure that people’s lives are not endangered through mixing of security issues with politics.
“I am happy he has told me that I should assure other traditional rulers that we must work with them now. It is very important for us to work very closely with the government so that we can separate the good, the bad and the ugly,” he said.
“It is very important for us to separate the corn from the chaff because, a lot of them are actually using the porous border that we have but to the glory of God they are doing what is called e-border now in Nigeria and it is very efficient and we all need to work with them.
“Even our governors and other political rulers in different states, Mr. President has said that they must work with the traditional rulers so that we can actually separate the good from the bad and get the right society in proper perspective. So, here the objective is politics shouldn’t be mixed with the safety and the security concerns of our people. Politics should be completely taken out of it and to the glory of God Mr. President said he is fully on board with us as traditional rulers.”
The Ooni of Ife hailed appointment of new service chiefs, saying it is “a very courageous move for fresh minds”.