Àmòtékún ‘fails’ to tackle insecurity in South West
From Abiodun Alade & Abdullateef Aliyu (Lagos), Bola Ojuola (Akure), Peter Moses (Abeokuta), Jeremiah Oke (Ibadan), Hameed Oyegbade (Osogbo) & Raphael Ogbonnaiye (Ado-Ekiti)
Western Nigeria Security Network Agency aka ‘Operation Àmòtékún’ was launched on January 9, 2020 in Ibadan, Oyo State, amid fanfare as some governors were clad in leopard skin outfits. Àmòtékún, a Yoruba word, means leopard in English language.
According to the initiators, the security outfit is meant to fight heinous crimes like kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism, as well as reduce farmer/herder clashes among others. In support of the outfit, all the six South West governors contributed 20 vehicles each, with Oyo contributing 33 vehicles to assist the operatives in carrying out their duties. They also procured 100 units of motorcycles each.
More than 10 months after the governors of the region, led by their chairman and governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, met in Ibadan to launch the security outfit, the South West has witnessed increase in crimes such as kidnapping, armed robbery, rape among others.
A frontline traditional ruler in Ondo State, the Olufon of Ifon town in Ose Local Government Area, Oba Israel Adeusi, was shot and killed by suspected kidnappers at Elegbeka area, along BeninOwo-Akure Expressway on Thursday.
It was gathered that the firstclass monarch, who ascended the throne 23 years ago, was returning to Ifon from Akure where he attended a meeting of council of Obas.
The attack on the monarch happened few hours after daredevil armed robbers attacked a branch of an old generation bank in OdeIrele, headquarters of Irele Local Government Area of Ondo.
Daily Trust gathered that the robbers, who used explosives to blast open the security doors of the bank, operated for more than one hour without any interruption from security agents, few minutes after the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, left the state.
Earlier in the month, gunmen suspected to be armed robbers attacked a bullion van in Ajah, an urban settlement in Lagos, and carted away millions of naira. At least one person was killed in each operation.
In October, Olorunsola Daramola was kidnapped alongside his 52-year-old father in Ekiti State, a state governed by the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Kayode Fayemi. While Daramola made it alive, his father was not so lucky as he was killed by the kidnappers, when he challenged them for not giving their victims food after four days in the forest. The young man, who disclosed that they were forced to drink their urine during their stay in the forest, said the family is still looking for the remains of their breadwinner for burial.
Kidnappers, in September, also abducted a retired US military officer, Jide Ijadare, at his palm oil-producing factory located along Ijan-Ise Ekiti road. The abduction took place a day after gunmen murdered David Jejelowo, a director in the Ekiti State Local
Government Service Commission in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
Two farmers, Oriade Wasiu and Rasheed Abimbola, who were abducted for four days in Ogun State, said their abductors mocked the police and collected N3.5m from them as ransom before their release.
There have been other highprofile cases of insecurity in the region and many residents are wondering if the Amotekun operatives are working.
Robbery, burglary, rape, hooliganism rampant in Osun
In Osun State, despite the establishment of the Amotekun Security Corps, insecurity still persists with daily incidences of robbery, burglary, rape, hooliganism and cultism.
Since the passage of the Amotekun bill into law by Osun State House of Assembly, which was signed by the State Governor, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, the corps has been making efforts to combat crime in the state but it seems incapacitated.
The recruitment of personnel into the corps has not been done. Daily Trust on Sunday learned that the recruitment might be carried out in March 2021.
Those currently working with the Amotekun Corps in the state are members of various local security outfits including local hunters, vigilante groups and Man ‘O’ War. They were engaged on ad-hoc arrangement.
Meanwhile, the issues of payment, recently, caused problem as the local security team complained that they were not being paid.
The Director General of the Amotekun Security Corps in Osun, Chief Amitolu Shitu said the corps would not relent in tackling insecurity in the state.
He said the team arrested many looters in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest and recovered some of the items looted. He also said the team arrested some secondary school students over cultism.
He admitted that hooliganism and drug abuse is rampant among youths in the state, leading to robbery, burglary and rape.
He however assured that Amotekun would do more in dealing with security challenges in the state, assuring that the recruitment exercise into the corps
next year would be transparent.
Security lapses persist as Makinde gives marching order to Amotekun
Barely eight months after the Oyo State House of Assembly passed the proposed bill for the