Open Letter to Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo

Subject: URGENT NEED FOR GOVERNMENT-NGO PARTNERSHIP TO PREVENT YOUTH-RELATED CRIMES AND CULT KILLINGS

Your Excellency,

I write to you with great concern and a heart full of hope regarding the urgent need to address the growing crisis of youth-related crimes and cult killings in Edo State.

As a concerned citizen, I believe the time has come for a bold, united response to safeguard our youths and secure the future of our beloved state to avoid the temptaion of creating a “pathway” for tribal colonization. We need our youths around against external aggressors.

The youths of Edo are not only our pride—they are our strength and our future. They represent the energy, creativity, and resilience that have long defined the Edo spirit. Their potential is vast, and their contribution to society is critical. However, this potential is increasingly threatened by the dangerous influence of cultism, violent crime, and the devastating consequences that follow.

Your Excellency, we cannot afford to lose our youths to prison cells, to violence, or to premature graves. The cycle of crime and retaliation is robbing our communities of peace and depriving us of the very people who should be the defenders and builders of Edo State. If this crisis continues unchecked, we risk creating a society where fear replaces hope, and destruction replaces development.

Now more than ever, Edo youths are needed to protect and defend the values, integrity, and security of our state. They should be equipped to stand as a bulwark against external aggressors—whether physical, ideological, or socio-economic. But they cannot do this without deliberate intervention and empowerment.

Therefore, I respectfully call on your administration to take the lead in forging a strategic partnership with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that are actively working in youth development, crime prevention, and peacebuilding. These partnerships can be instrumental in:

• Implementing grassroots awareness campaigns to educate young people on the dangers of cultism and crime.
• Establishing vocational training and entrepreneurship hubs across the state to reduce unemployment and increase self-reliance.
• Launching mentorship and counseling programs that connect youth with role models and mental health professionals.
• Developing community policing frameworks in collaboration with NGOs and traditional institutions to provide early warnings and intervention.
• Rehabilitating and reintegrating ex-cultists and at-risk youth through education, support, and structured opportunities for change.
• The destruction of properties for a crime can never replace ideological intervention, mindset change approach for mitigation social unrest hence your current approach aim at under development of the state only but can never stop crime in Edo State.

Your Excellency, with your leadership, Edo State can become a beacon of youth empowerment and security in Nigeria. Together—with the support of NGOs, traditional rulers, educators, and families—we can build a safer, stronger, and more prosperous Edo for all.

Thank you for your continued service to our people. I am confident that your administration will rise to this challenge with the courage and vision that Edo State deserves.

Yours faithfully,

Martins A. Okoukoni
Former Edo State Governorship Aspirant
9th May 2025