Egungun Festival: Oyo Police Sensitizes stakeholders about security

Ahead of the annual Egungun Festival celebration in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, the Oyo State Police Command has organised a sensitisation meeting for all stakeholders involved in the celebration and have warned against any activity that could cause security breach.

The event, which held at the IGP Alkali Baba Usman Conference Hall, Oyo State Police Command, Eleyele, Ibadan, was said to be in line with the Command’s strategic and proactive policing approach.

The meeting had traditionalists, leaders of the various masquerade bearing household groups and other non-state actors that would be involved in the yearly cultural festival in attendance.

According to the Command’s spokesperson, Adewale Osifeso, a Superintendent of Police, in a statement, the state Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Williams, at the event, ordered Area Commanders, Divisional Police Officers and Heads of Command tactical formations to embark on confidence building patrols, purposeful surveillance activities and intelligence-led visibility policing, ahead of the festival slated later this month.

Osifeso said the stakeholders at the meeting deliberated extensively on the growing concerns about the influx of various interests into the state under the guise of celebrating the age-long festival with loved ones.

The statement reads in part: “In a bid to ensure an hitch-free and peaceful Egungun Festival, a yearly event showcasing Oyo State’s rich cultural heritage, the State Police Command organised a sensitisation meeting with all stakeholders… 

“While emphatically assuring the good people of the state of their safety before, during and after the festive period, the CP enjoins parents, guardians and leaders yielding varying degrees of influence to warn their wards and protégés against being used by mischief makers to breach the relative tranquility enjoyed in the State.  

“He therefore appeals to all and sundry to go about their daily lawful activities without fear of harassment or molestation of any kind, as stakeholders have been legally bound by relevant laws and statutes for a peaceful procession exercise which would be actively monitored by the Command in line with standard best practices,” Osifeso asserted in the statement.

The Egungun Festival is a yearly event that showcases the rich cultural heritage of Oyo State.