The Commissioner of Police, Ogun State Command, CP Abiodun Alamutu has said the war against cultism and other social vices is a collective responsibility of stakeholders such as traditional rulers, community leaders, religious leaders, educational institutions as well as the parents.
He bared his mind while appearing on OGBC flagship Current Affairs Programme, Sunday Morning Live on FM, in Abeokuta
CP Alamutu emphasised that the collaborative efforts required a lot of consultations which will be anchored by the traditional rulers.
According to him, the police in Ogun State is employing new approach through moral suasion, especially with the directive of the Inspector General of Police to the police formations nationwide to allow people who are willing to voluntarily surrender arms and renounce their membership of secret cults to do so without any conditions attached.
The Commissioner of Police also said efforts are ongoing by the Ogun State Command of the Police to work with relevant agency of the government on how to map up arms in circulation, by tracing the source of the weapons that are in free use through unlawful proliferation.
He also called on government and Public- spirited individuals to device a means of gainfully engaging the youths; harness their ebullient energy by didsauading them from cultism and other negative ideologies.
He also lamented that some parents and religious leaders are abdicating their responsibilities, submitting that the youths learn easily through imitation.
He further saw the need for the society to go back to the old system of communal living, where other elderly people can easily scold or chastise the younger ones in order to collectively get the youths on the right track.
He blamed the mentality of ” Everyone for himself and God for us all and the ” Get rich mentality by the majorly of the people in the society as also being responsible for the growing threats of the dastardly act, saying all hands must be on deck to reverse the ugly trend.