The governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has secured the support of Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere in his move to kit Amotekun personnel with sophisticated arms like their counterparts in Katsina State.
The organisation, in a statement yesterday said it was in full support of the governor’s decision, expressing dismay that the Federal Government was allegedly practicing two systems in the same nation.
The Ondo State Security Network codenamed Amotekun was an initiative of the six Southwest states to respond to the need for local security in tackling rising kidnapping, armed robbery and other criminal activities. It was established two years ago in the six states but was not allowed to bear sophisticated arms by the Federal Government.
Akeredolu, however, hit the Federal Government in a statement on Thursday, accusing it of denying Amotekun the desire to bear sophisticated arms but allowed the same for its counterpart in Katsina State.
Afenifere in a statement by the its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, posited that although there are many instances to be cited, “we want to restrict ourselves to the most recent one for now because of the serious implications it holds for our security, political and socio-economic well-being”.
“Amotekun is denied the license to be equipped with sophisticated weapons that would be capable of confronting the terrorists and bandits.” Afenifere lamented.
The second point mentioned by Ajayi as contrived by the Federal Government to hamstring Amotekun is operational.
“Amotekun is robbed of the power to prosecute suspects apprehended notwithstanding the evidence they marshal. They must hand the culprits over to the police that is under firm control of the Federal Government. Complaints are rife that many cases handed over to the police by Amotekun ended up without proper prosecution, if at all. Rumours had it that some culprits ended up being released by the police – a reason being given for the rise in people taking laws into their own hands.” The statement read in part.
Speaking further on the alleged double standard of the Federal Government, Afenifere‘s spokesman recalled that it took a lot of pressures mounted by the people before bandits, mostly of northern extraction, were declared as terrorists whereas the government wasted no time in using the strong arm against groups in the South which are agitating for self-determination.
He also cited the case of the Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom who has, since August, unsuccessfully been seeking a license from the Federal Government to equip the state’s Vigilante Group with needed weapons.
“This, along with the experience of the Southwest governors in regard to Amotekun, was what made Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State to speak angrily on the preferential treatment given to Katsina State Government. His angst is highly justified.”
Packaged by Alice Egbedele
