A senior official of the Nigerian Ports Authority has publicly accused Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration of keeping armoured vehicles off the streets for more than 18 months without any satisfactory explanation, describing the move as dangerous at a time when border states were experiencing heightened security challenges and the threat of violence was spreading from neighboring regions.
Executive Director for Marine and Operations at the NPA, Engr. Olalekan Badmus, made the accusation while speaking in Osogbo, saying the vehicles had been strategically positioned at security flash points across the state by the previous administration to help security agencies respond rapidly to armed attacks, kidnappings, and other serious criminal incidents, but that they were withdrawn shortly after the Adeleke government came to power.
He said the government’s stated justification was that the vehicles were being refurbished, but that after more than a year and a half, neither the refurbishment had been completed nor an alternative explanation offered, leaving security agencies in the state to manage a deteriorating threat environment without equipment that had previously been available to them.
Badmus contrasted the state government’s inaction with what he described as the proactive approach of APC-led local government councils, which had independently procured patrol vehicles for security agencies and demonstrated that practical security investment at the grassroots was both achievable and urgent. He appealed directly to the governor to return the armoured vehicles to operational use without further delay, saying that hoarding security assets during a period of rising regional insecurity was a decision that could cost lives.
