Saheed Adekeye Olalekan Popoola, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial candidate for Kwara South, on Friday expressed concern over the continued captivity of two farmers and four children abducted in separate communities in the district, despite the reported payment of N5 million ransom.
Popoola also criticised what he described as the Kwara State Government’s indifference to the worsening security situation in the district.
He expressed the concern while speaking on News Keg, a platform organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kwara State Council, in Ilorin, where he identified insecurity as the biggest challenge confronting Kwara South.
He explained that a farmer and his two children, who were abducted from their farm in Oke-Ero Local Government Area, remained in captivity despite the payment of N5 million ransom. Similarly, another farmer and his two children were also reportedly being held by kidnappers in Oro.
The PDP candidate disclosed that he personally contributed N2 million towards the ransom raised for the release of the Oke-Ero victims, while the local government chairman provided N300,000 and other contributors raised the balance.
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“The local government chairman could only come up with N300,000, while others provided the balance to make it N5 million.
“As we speak, none of the abductees has been released, either those in Oke-Ero or the ones in Oro. The state government has neither spoken about it nor done anything to facilitate their rescue,” he lamented.
He accused the state government, under the All Progressives Congress (APC), of failing to demonstrate sufficient commitment to addressing the security challenges confronting communities in the southern senatorial district.
Popoola warned that the deteriorating security situation was threatening residents’ economic livelihoods, particularly those of farmers, whose activities constitute a major pillar of the local economy.
He noted that the vast agricultural land in Ifelodun Local Government Area, for instance, offered enormous potential for food production, but insecurity was preventing farmers from accessing their farms and pursuing their livelihoods without fear.
“We can’t do farming when people are not safe,” he said.
He also linked the security crisis to youth unemployment and vulnerability to criminal recruitment, arguing that the absence of effective security measures and economic empowerment programmes was creating conditions that could push young people into criminal activities.
On his political ambition, Popoola, a former chairman of Offa Local Government Area and former Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development in Kwara State, posits his experience in public service and legislative administration had prepared him to provide effective representation if elected to the Senate.
He cited his years in the Kwara State House of Assembly, where he served as a legislator and headed various committees, as well as his experience in estate development, as part of the background he would bring to the Senate.
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