The meeting is holding at the
boardroom of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) at Oke – Mosan,
Abeokuta.
The GAFDAN National Chairman,
Alhaji Sale Bayari led delegates of the association, drawn from Southwest
states, Kogi and Kwara States to the meeting.
Also at the meeting are spokesman of the
Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin and Mr Dayo Adewole, son of the former Minister of
Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, who was kidnapped recently in Oyo State.
Obasanjo, Bayari and Adewole had
given brief remarks before journalists were asked to step out for the closed
door meeting.
The former President said the
round table meeting was put together to interrogate kidnapping and other
insecurity challenges confronting the region with a view to proffering
solutions.
He said the former Minister’s
son, a victim of kidnapping, was invited to the meeting to narrate his ordeals
and be part of the problem-solving initiative.
Obasanjo maintained that a number
of the insecurity challenges were shrouded in the dark, saying “we all need to
be in the light to proffer solutions.
“We are all in darkness, all of
us, we are in the darkness. We need to be in the light.
“I want to learn from you; I hope
you will learn from me too. And at the end of the meeting, we will be able to
proffer solutions to the happenings in the region,” Obasanjo said.
Bayari thanked Obasanjo for
inviting them to state “our own side of the story.”