Human right lawyer and activist, Femi Falana, SAN, has blamed police for failing to provide adequate security in all the venues where stampedes occurred in the country recently.
He demanded that the Federal Government should compensate families of all victims and casualties of the stampedes.
He spoke on Friday while delivering lecture at the first anniversary of the late Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, in Akure, Ondo State capital.
Falana described the arrest of the organisers of the charity events where stampedes occurred as face-saving.
He stated that Police attempted to cover up its negligence by arresting the organisers so that the citizens’ attention would be diverted.
He said it’s the major constitutional responsibility of the police to provide security for the citizens’ at all times.
He said police should admit its failure to provide for the people at the venues of the deadly stampedes in which several died in Ibadan, Oyo State, Okija, Anambra State and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
Falana who spoke on “Security Reform In Promoting Peace, Stability and Development: The Ondo State Example,” called on the Federal Government to compensate families of all the victims and casualties of the stampedes.
Speaking on the late governor of Ondo State,the late Akeredolu, the learned silk described Akeredolu as a blunt person who didn’t care about whose ox is gored in his lifetime.
Falana stated that Akeredolu was always on the side of the people,noting that that was what gave birth to the South-West Security Network code named Amotekun Corps when the herdsmen were giving his people problems.
He stated that Ondo State and South-West in general are enjoying the current relative peace as a result of the establishment of Amotekun Corps despite strong resistance from the Presidency then.
He implored Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to ensure he provides the enabling environment to attract investments into the state, emphasizing that if job opportunities are not provided,youths would take to crimes to survive.
He advised that the state government should seize the opportunity of the current cocoa boom by ensuring chocolate factories and other beverage companies that make use of cocoa as their major raw materials are established in the state to prevent exportation of raw cocoa beans.
He tasked Governor Aiyedatiwa to draw modalities on how all state-owned moribund companies are resuscitated, particularly by engaging both local and foreign investors.
He also emphasized on improving education standard to improve the lives of the youths for them to be creative and become self-reliant in future.
In his address, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa said he would continue to maintain the legacies of his late boss, promising that he would ensure the completion of all the projects he had initiated.
He noted that he created the Akeredolu Leadership Lecture Series to allow the state to continue to celebrate him(Akeredolu) and his legacies for several years to come.
