The Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission (DAWN) and the Oluwarotimi Akeredolu Foundation have restated their commitment to the realisation of state policing, an idea strongly advocated by the late former Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, during his lifetime.
The two organisations are marking what would have been Akeredolu’s 70th birthday with a colloquium titled, “Fundamentals and Governance of State Policing: Towards a New Architecture for National Security in Nigeria.”
The programme, scheduled for Thursday, October 8, 2026, at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, is expected to bring together governors, lawmakers, security chiefs, traditional rulers, academics and civil society actors to discuss policing and national security in Nigeria.
Speaking at a press conference in Ibadan on Tuesday, a representative of the Akeredolu family, Mr Taiwo Adewole, said the family decided to commemorate the late governor through ideas and conversations around issues he championed during his lifetime.
According to him, Akeredolu, who would have turned 70 on July 21, 2026, was a lawyer, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association and two-term governor of Ondo State.
Adewole described the former governor as “a man of courage,” saying Akeredolu spoke when silence was safer, acted when waiting was easier and stood up when others sat down.
He said Akeredolu remained committed to the security and welfare of the people, particularly during periods of insecurity in the South-West.
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“When farmers were killed on their farms, he did not look away. When criminals made our forests their hiding places, he drew a line. When terror came to Owo, his own hometown, he stood with his people and grieved with them,”
Adewole recalled that Akeredolu, as Chairman of the South-West Governors’ Forum, played a leading role in the establishment of Operation Amotekun despite opposition and doubts from some quarters.
“He believed security begins at home. He believed the people closest to a community are best placed to protect it,” Adewole said.
He added that the family had chosen not to mourn Akeredolu with tears alone but to honour him by continuing conversations around the ideas and causes he championed.
Also speaking, the Director-General of the DAWN Commission, Dr Seye Oyeleye, said the commission was proud to convene the Aketi@70 Colloquium in partnership with the Oluwarotimi Akeredolu Foundation.
Oyeleye said the event was aimed at keeping alive Akeredolu’s contributions to the debate on state policing and national security.
He said Nigeria’s security challenges, including banditry, kidnapping, farmer-herder clashes and attacks on farms, highways and places of worship, had made the debate on policing increasingly important.
According to him, Nigeria’s centralised policing structure is under strain, making it necessary to have a serious conversation about how state policing can be implemented, funded, regulated and made accountable.
“The debate on state policing is no longer about whether. It is about how.
“How do we fund it? How do we train and equip it? How do we guard against abuse? How do we keep it accountable to the people, not to politicians?
“These are the questions this colloquium will tackle,” he said.
Oyeleye said the discussion was not a regional or Yoruba agenda but a national issue that went to the heart of Nigeria’s federal structure.
He said the experience of Operation Amotekun had demonstrated the potential of regional cooperation and the importance of local knowledge in addressing security challenges.
“Amotekun showed what is possible. Regional cooperation works. Local knowledge saves lives,”
He urged Nigerians and the media to participate actively in the discourse, saying Akeredolu’s death should not mark the end of the ideas and conversations he started.
“Honouring Aketi is not about the past. It is about the Nigeria we must build,”
The Secretary-General of the South-West Governors’ Forum, Mrs Naomi Olabode, described Akeredolu as a “strong and dogged fighter” who believed deeply in Nigeria.
Olabode, who served as an executive assistant to the late governor, said Akeredolu always placed Nigeria at the forefront of his actions and stood for equity, fairness and justice.
She urged people across the South-West to attend the colloquium to honour the late governor.
“This is a legacy we must keep,” she said.
The Head of Special Projects and Funding at the DAWN Commission, Prince Adetayo Adeleke-Adedoyin, said the theme of the colloquium reflected the issues to which Akeredolu dedicated his life, including justice, activism, fairness and equity.