Adebisi Adeniyi, the chairman of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC), Owode-Onirin Police Division, has urged people of Lagos State’s Agboyi-Ketu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) to live in peace with one another.
The announcement was made during a Community Peace and Security meeting with the topic “Learning to Live Together in Peace, Harmony and Diversity in Agboyi-Ketu LCDA” that the PCRC organised for stakeholders and held at the Thomas Ajegunle Playing Ground in Owode-Onirin.
The peace gathering, according to Adeniyi, was necessary given the recent spike in unrest around the nation and the mounting tension in certain neighbourhoods.
He also emphasised the need for constant preaching of the gospel of peaceful coexistence and harmonious cohabitation.
In order to fully use our variety, he stated, there is a greater need to appreciate one another’s culture, religion, and beliefs.
In order to prevent any more crises, communities and religious leaders must regularly organise meetings and counsel adolescents to stop demonising ethnic groups.
The Chairman also urged individuals trying to stir up disturbance in Agboyi-Ketu LCDA to stop, warning that a team of security personnel and local authorities is ready to deal with them in accordance with the law.
For his part, Mayor Dele Oshinowo, the Chairman of the Agboyi-Ketu LCDA, thanked the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the Owode-Onirin Police Division and the Chairman PCRC for organising the security meeting to allay rumours of tension between the various ethnic groups in Agboyi-Ketu.
He was represented by the LCDA’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), Mr. Tunde Idowu.
He emphasised the importance of tolerance among the populace and counselled Community Development Associations (CDAs) to hold similar gatherings in their various neighbourhoods to put an end to any misunderstandings.
He also noted that progress and development in the LCDA can be achieved through peaceful coexistence among residents.
The Agboyi-Ketu LCDA Chairman, Mayor Dele Oshinowo, the PCRC Chairman of the Owode Onirin Police Division, Adebisi Adeniyi, and the entire PCRC members were thanked for the security initiative by Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Owode-Onirin Police Station, SP Charles Sawyer, who also stressed that all hands must be on deck to reduce insecurity throughout the State.
He added that the security meeting was in keeping with the Inspector General of Police’s (IGP) Community Policing initiative, which aims to secure lives and property in the nation through intercommunal cooperation.
He reminded participants that every citizen has the right to live and work anywhere in Nigeria.
Therefore, Sawyer urged the populace to practise tolerance and respect for each other’s inalienable rights as protected by the Constitution.