Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has ordered the Ebira people living in the state to flush out criminals among them.

Akeredolu equally urged them to join hands with the state government in ridding the state of crime.

The governor, who stressed that the Ebira people have lived together with the indigenes of the state for long, charged them not to deviate from the farming trade.

According to a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Richard Olatunde, Governor Akeredolu said this during a meeting with the leaders of the Ebira community in the state at the Governor’s office in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Saturday.

Addressing reporters shortly after the closed-door meeting, Akeredolu disclosed that the meeting was summoned in the light of the recent development of the June 5 attack in Owo and other kidnapping cases in the state.

The governor said the leaders of the Ebira community have been urged to rid themselves of criminals and deal with the situation the best way, so as to protect their name and integrity in the state.

He said: “We summoned this meeting with our brothers. They are not new here but because of the recent developments that have to do with the Owo massacre and kidnappings, we have to call ourselves.

“I can assure you all that we have had very frank discussion with ourselves and the leader of the Ebiras in Ondo State spoke on behalf of Ebiras and a few other persons.

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“It is clear that the message from us to them is well understood and we have assurance from the Ebiras who are living in Ondo State that they would corporate with the security agencies and that the incident in Owo was something that they themselves felt very bad about.

“I also have received a letter from Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, that is the leader of Ebira in the World, commiserating again and expressing his own embarrassment on what happened.

“So, we leave here today with the belief that our brothers, Ebira that are here, would at the least work to ensure that there is security in Ondo State, and in doing that, we have charged them to discuss with all their people.

“They have assured us they would do that and we want to call on our people that at least, let us continue with our brotherliness and maintain the good relationship we have had with them in the past.

“We believe that it is not those who are residing here that came to perpetrate this crime. That is what they have said and we should give them another chance.

“Let us live together in peace and I hope and pray that the Ebiras who are here in Ondo State will work with the government and security agencies to make sure that criminals are flushed out within our midst and they have our cooperation in whatever way they wish,” Governor Akeredolu stated.

The Ebiras were led to the meeting by the Ondo State Chairman of Egbira, Abdulazeez Majeobaje Akure; Odeyani Anabira, and Zubair Dan Musa.

The state deputy governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa; Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG Zone 17, Yusuf  Mohammed Akeera; Heads of Security Agencies; members of the State Executive Council; and Chairmen of the six Local Government Councils in the Northern senatorial districts of the state were present at the meeting.

The Star