Justice Aderonke Aderemi (retd) stands at the helms of the Oyo State Rule of Law Enforcement Authority (OYRLEA), a body created by Governor Seyi Makinde to ensure compliance with the state’s laws and uphold public order.
With a rich background from the Oyo State High Court, Justice Aderemi brings both legal expertise and a firm commitment to fostering an environment of legality and peace in the state.
In this interview, she delves into the challenges facing her team, the misconceptions surrounding OYRLEA’s mission, and her resolute plans to maintain law and order amid the changing dynamics of the state.
There are insinuations that OYRLEA would be used to witch-hunt herders from the North. How would you react to this?
This law enforcement authority has not been established to witch-hunt anybody. It is to ensure that the laws are complied with. We’re talking about an Anti-Open Rearing and Grazing Law of 2019.
The first incident that shocked me most was those cows in front of the Oyo State Government Secretariat, the seat of power in Oyo State. It’s an affront. It’s a shame on the people not respecting our own seat of power. I felt it so much. Immediately I saw the cows. I said, arrest them. Once you arrest the cow, the owners will come up.
And lo and behold, who was the owner? He’s a Yoruba man. He is not Fulani.
And what did the owner of the cow say? He said, and I’ve listened to the jingles on the radio. I didn’t know these cows would come here again. So, we arrested and we prosecuted the Alhaji and everyone involved.
So, what I’m trying to say is that whether you are Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani or Hausa, once you flout our laws in Oyo State, we’ll prosecute you.
What about what happened at Molete in Ibadan? Who did we arrest there too? Yoruba people! Can you imagine? They were rearing cows under the bridge at Molete. Then, what about the woman we arrested at Ido?
Also, what about Ijaiye Farm Settlement? We have more Fulani there. And we’ll arrest them. We’ve been arresting them. So, we’re not witch-hunting anybody. Once you flout the laws in Oyo State, we will deal with you appropriately. We will prosecute you.
What measures are in place for residents to comply with laws on environmental protection, road traffic management, and open rearing and grazing prohibition?
For us to operate at OYRLEA, we have two legs. We have our enforcement team. Then, we have the mobile court and the tribunals. So, with the enforcement team, the team will go out, and arrest people that are contradicting the laws in Oyo State, like those ones selling their wares at the side of the roads, who are not supposed to be there; like at Gbagi Market, where they have shops on the roads. The enforcement team will arrest them.
Immediately after arresting them, they bring them before the tribunal or the mobile court. The arrested persons will be made to appear before one of the two. They are prosecuted instantly without wasting time.
Some herders take cattle from foreign countries or far northern states in Nigeria to Oyo State for grazing, which has pitted them against crop farmers. How will your organisation handle this?
Now, the old system of open rearing is gone. The system by which herders would come from other countries and rear the cows into Nigeria without anybody stopping them, is gone. Then, rearing cows from Sokoto to Oyo State is gone
We’re saying that system is no longer in operation. There is that law, Anti-Open Rearing and Grazing Law of 2019. It says no more open rearing of cows or any other animal. And everybody must comply with it in Nigeria.
Once you get into Oyo State and you flout our laws, we will arrest you and prosecute you appropriately. Our laws are so important to us. The rule of law is in operation in Oyo State.
Nobody flouts the law and goes scot-free. So, they must stop the act of open rearing in Oyo State.
What message do you have for livestock herders in Oyo State regarding the prohibition on open grazing in farm settlements?
In Oyo State, we have nine farm settlements. I believe there are so many herders on all these farm settlements. It’s affecting food produce.
So now, the message I have for them is they should get out of their farm settlements. Farm settlements are indeed farm settlements for farmers. Not for rearing cows, or rearing any other thing. So, if they need to have their own ranch, they go back to the Ministry of Agriculture. The ministry will issue the appropriate licence to them and even allocate the appropriate ranches to them. It is not to mix farm settlements with ranches. No. They do not go together.
Some people, groups and religious organisations are in the habit of barricading roads when they have parties or meetings. What is OYRLEA doing about this?
Once we receive any petition in respect of same, then we will go out with the enforcement team to make appropriate arrests.
Then, we will now collaborate with the local government because it is ideally the job of the local government. But we do it when they fail to perform their duty.
If you look at the law establishing this office, we are to oversee, and ensure that all these bodies perform their duties.
So, we now get them to perform their duties by arresting those offenders and telling them, don’t do it again.
What about builders dropping sand, gravels, and blocks on the roads?
We have dealt with so many of them. We arrest them as well. We prosecute them, take them before the tribunal. They pay as high as N500,000 or even more. They pay millions as well, depending on the quantity of things that they have dropped on the road. It is definitely against the law and it would affect the environment as well.
So, I am using this opportunity to say to everybody in Ibadan and the whole of Oyo State; it is no longer business as usual when you are building your houses, your normal practice of dropping gravel or sharp sand, on the road. No, if you do so, we will arrest you.
And once we arrest you, you will have to pay a fine, a heavy fine. It can run into millions. So, the best thing is, don’t do it again. Stop these sharp practices.
What led to the establishment of OYRLEA in Oyo State?
When Governor Seyi Makinde came on board for his first term in 2019, he had the agenda – Omituntun 1.0. Under it, he established some industries. It was the time we heard about Fashola Agribusiness Hub. We also heard that he established so many industries as well
He also did something about the road networks; he started re-establishing them to link the whole of Oyo State via the various roads. And so, many industries were coming up.
After he came on board the second time, he felt that there must be sanity all around in the environment. We noticed that the market people were having their wares on the road and it would affect our investors from coming in.
So, he said it was time for him to have the rule of law in place in Oyo State. So, he established our own office, Oyo State Rule of Law Enforcement Authority, to ensure, that we all comply with the laws that we already have in Oyo State. Not new laws, they are already laws in Oyo State, like road traffic laws, environmental laws, and anti-rearing, open grazing laws of 2019. That’s why he established the office.
What are the primary objectives of OYRLEA in enforcing the rule of law in Oyo State?
The primary objective of OYRLEA is to oversee the enforcement of Oyo State laws and regulations, relating to healthy environmental standards, maintenance of road traffic safety, and anti-open grazing regulations in Oyo State.
It is to foster a good relationship with other ministries and departments and agencies of government with a view to providing and ensuring the effective exchange of information to achieve traffic safety and environmental sustainability within the state.
Also, it is to facilitate the equipping and furnishing of environmental tribunal and mobile courts as well.
The first thing is we have to know the vision of His Excellency for Oyo State. His vision, I’m sure, is to see a state where the people are properly empowered, where the people have work, and where the people are not poverty-stricken.
And how will they live above poverty? It is when they have jobs to do. How can they have jobs? If is when we have proper industries in the state. When the roads are good, you will attract investors to come in.
He’s into tourism as well. When you have good roads, when your environment is good, when you get to a place you decide to move from one point to another within 15 minutes, you are able to do so, then the investors will come in.
And that’s why we now say, you that you’re selling your wares at the roadside, you have to move away from there. You that you’re dropping dirt on the medians, you have to leave the place.
You that you’re rearing your cows and other animals on the road, it’s time for you to comply with the law. And that’s how we’re coming. And that’s where we’re aligning with the vision of Governor Seyi Makinde.
How does OYRLEA balance enforcement of laws with the need for public awareness and education on these laws?
I remembered that when we came on board, His Excellency said something, that, ‘my Lord, you need to sensitise the people, first of all, before doing this job.’
So, immediately we came on board, we visited BCOS to collaborate with them over there. And we informed the chairperson there that OYRLEA is now on board, that we need to let the people know what we are doing, that His Excellency has mandated us to, first of all, inform them that it’s not business as usual again in Oyo State.
At that time when I visited BCOS, I said, a new sheriff is in town. And that what are we going to do is to enforce laws. But before enforcing the laws, we want the people to know exactly what we’re doing.
That it’s no longer business as usual. They have to stop all these unnecessary filth.
How does OYRLEA handle violators of these laws, and what penalties can they expect?
With our work, it is two-legged. We have the enforcement team and we have the tribunals and the courts.
The enforcement team will go out and once they make arrests, they take them either before the tribunal or the mobile courts, where the magistrate sits. Once you get there, the penalty could be a strict fine or sentence to jail. The person will have to be warned. It will depend on the discretion of the judge sitting at the tribunal or the mobile courts.
What impact has OYRLEA had on law enforcement and public order in Oyo State since its inception?
There was a jingle we did. People are calling me, we’ve heard about what you are saying about anti-open rearing and grazing law.
The first one we saw was with respect to a seat of power, secretariat, where one person was grazing his cows right at the gate of the secretariat and we arrested the cows.
Once you arrest cows, the owners will come and the owner came. He had to pay heavily for the cows that were arrested. He paid about N1.7million, before he could retrieve the cows.
So, we are telling the people again, stop rearing these animals on the road, just anyhow. The goats, the cows, the chicken, everything, the dogs, no, it’s not good. We can’t have them all around our streets.
We need our streets to be free and for investors to be able to come in and live peacefully with us.
What are the challenges being faced by OYRLEA in enforcing the laws in Oyo State, and how are these challenges addressed?
Our people are very stubborn. But at OYRLEA, we will not give up. For example, we moved down to St. Gabriel’s Secondary School at Mokola to destroy the shanties, following the regulation from His Excellency that all shanties around schools, and the school walls, should be destroyed. And we did that. But those people are going back there.
When we destroyed the shanties, unfortunately, part of the wall fence was destroyed. So we had to reconstruct the wall fence again. But can you imagine? They reconstructed the shanties. But we too will not give up.
How does OYRLEA engage with communities to promote understanding and compliance with the law enforcement?
We have jingles. We have videos. There was a time I went to Bodija Market. I was there among those people selling their wares.
On that day, I told them, we’re not there to arrest them but to sensitise them. I spoke in Yoruba so that they would understand the law. And I told them there is a law in place saying don’t sell your wares at the side of the road. Why? It is because it is dangerous.
Then, what happened at Eleyele had just happened, where a truck had a brake failure and killed about three of them. Can you imagine? It is not to protect us. It is to protect them, that we are saying, don’t sell your wares at the side of the road. Anything can happen.
Cars, they can have brake failure at any time without warning. So, I explained everything to them in the language that they understood.
Are there plans for OYRLEA to expand its scope of enforcement beyond the state capital and increase engagements in the future?
Yes. We have sensitised our people enough for one year. It is time to move out. We’re now moving into all the local governments in Oyo State. Our mandate is to cover the whole of Oyo State.
So, we’re going to have offices all around, not just in Ibadan. And that’s why we have the chief of staff as well. Her own office will be roaming around. And the secretary too is there. Every one of us, and I’m not supposed to sit still in my office. We’re all too restless for that. I have to go around.
We must go to Shaki, Kishi, Lanlate, Igbeti, Ogbomoso, Ibarapa and Oyo as well.
Everybody should know that it’s no longer business as usual. There is a new sheriff in town.
And we’re going to enforce the laws of Oyo State appropriately.
What mechanisms are in place for residents to report concerns or complaints about OYRLEA’s activities?
We have two call centres right now. And we also have two numbers.
Anytime anybody can call those numbers. The first one is 0811-52-00398, and the second one is 070-81-60-5529. We also have a Facebook page, and an Instagram page. Anybody can get onto our pages and get in touch with us over there as well.
And I have an open policy. If you feel like seeing me or coming to me, you can come in and discuss with me as a chairperson.
I’m ready to listen to everybody. The secretary, and the chief of staff too, are always ready. We have good listening ears because we want the rule of law to be properly in place in our state.
Looking ahead, what are your priorities as the chairperson of OYRLEA for promoting the rule of law in Oyo State?
My priorities include bringing sanity to Oyo State. I remembered when I was much younger, one thing was certain; we did not have shops around at the side of the roads. We did not have mechanic workshops there as well. You could easily walk at the side of the road at any point in time.
I lived at Molete then. We could walk at night from that Molete down to Oke-Ado, down to Kingsway side at any time. There was sanity.
You wouldn’t find hoodlums, or people living under the bridge at night. So, our mission is to have a law-compliant state, where the well-being of the citizenry is taken care of and to accommodate local and international investors. This is what I pray for, for us in Oyo State.