Don’t betray South West, Ooni tells personnel of Amotekun

Ibadan – The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has called on personnel of the Western Nigeria Security Network (Amotekun) not to betray the region on the ideals behind setting up the security outfit.

Ogunwusi stated this on Thursday in Ibadan during the launching of Amotekun by the governors of the South West region.

Amotekun was evolved by the governors in the South West region to complement the efforts of the Nigeria Police in tackling security challenges in the region.

The Ooni said that the governors in the region had done their best, adding that it was left for the personnel and the residents of the region to work together for the success of the security outfit.

Why we established Amotekun – S’West govs

“All the traditional rulers are in support,the Federal Government is not opposed to it, let all and sundary support it for peace to reign in the region.

“The success of this security outfit will be of benefit to the present generation and generations yet unborn,”he said.

The leader of the Yoruba World Congress, Prof. Banji Akintoye, said that the Yoruba did not know how to tackle their security challenges when they first emerged.

Akintoye said that the governors and the people of the region had now risen up to the challenges and were acting credibly in tackling it.

“The people that will work in Amotekun are going to be trained properly by highly educated people for them to relate properly with the police and the army,”  he said.

The National Public Relations Officer,Vigilante Group of Nigeria, Prof. Nelson Fashina, said that his personnel were properly qualified for the security outfit.

Fashina said that the group was capable of taking up the challenges of community policing as members were conversant with the terrain.

The governors present at the occasion were Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo and Seyi Makinde of Oyo while Osun and Ogun were represented by their deputies.

Northern Youths Council of Nigeria, NYCN, on Thursday, kicked against the formation of ‘Operation Amotekun’ in the Southwest zone of the country. National President of NYCN, Alhaji Isah Abubakar, in a statement issued in Kaduna, urged President Muhammadu Buhari, not to allow what he described as “unconstitutionality” to prevail

He also described the security outfit as military wing of the Oodua Peoples Congress in disguise.

“Amotekun group in Southwest is OPC Military wing in disguise and in the same league with the proscribe IPOB. The President must not allow this unconstitutionality to prevail,” he said.

Isah said Southwest governors must desist from backing such groups as the Amotekum, adding that Amotekun is a threat to peace and national security and an attempt to jeorpadize Nigeria’s sovereignty.

He said Nigerian Police, DSS and Army shouldn’t take this lightly with the governors of Southwest. He also said the National Security Adviser should promptly take steps that will avert the looming threat to Nigeria’s national security by Southwest governors, OPC and others.

Meanwhile, the leading civil Rights Advocacy group – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has applauded the decision of the political leadership of the South West of Nigeria to formulate a home-made security strategy to tackle the increasing threats to the security of lives and property of law abiding citizens of their federating units. 

“The rest of the federating units such as South South; South East; North central; North West; North East should similarly adopt same approach because safeguarding the security of the citizenry and coming to the aid of state institutions such as the Nigerian Police Force and other sister security institutions is the fundamental task of a good citizen. 

A bottom to the top approa h to security and the formulation of security strategy to make the people the owners of the process is the best intelligence gathering tool.” 

“We have watched with overwhelming excitement the collective resolve of millions of people of South West origin including millions of other law abiding citizens of other segments of the Nigerian federation doing legitimate businesses in the South West, to collectively restore sanity, security and societal harmony in that part of the country that remains the industrial and commercial hub of the Nation, is highly commendable. 

We hereby urge governors of other federating units to follow the good model of the South West joint security architecture, to bring about the restoration of security, peace, unity and economic advancements in all other parts of Nigeria.” 

HURIWA recalled that the governors of the South West will on January 7, inaugurate Operation Amotekun, a security strategy meant to combat killings and kidnapping in the zone. The Ekiti State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Muyiwa Olumilua, who said this in an interview with one of our correspondents on Wednesday, said vehicles and equipment for the security outfit were ready. He stated that the inauguration was delayed by the need for all the states to be adequately ready in terms of meeting the requirements. 

HURIWA sated thus: “We commend the South West governors who had, in September, after a meeting in Akure, said they would set up Operation Amotekun, following serial killings and kidnapping in the zone by Fulani herdsmen. 

There is every justification for the establishment of this model security architecture following a relentless gale of armed attacks by bandits and suspected armed Fulani bandits. In June, gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen, killed Funke Olakunri, a daughter of the Afenifere leader, Reuben Fasoranti, on the Ondo-Ore road.

There were cases of kidnapping, including the abduction of a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Prof. Olayinka Adegbehingbe, in May, at the Ikoyi/Apomu junction of the Ibadan-Ife Expressway in Ikire, a border town between Osun and Oyo states. 

We in the organised human rights community are happy that the governors have taken the bull by the horns and are now doing something to checkmate the rising scale of threats to the security of lives and property of the good people of the South West.”