Indications emerged on Saturday that the police, army and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps have rejected the planned inclusion of members of the Yoruba groups namely the Oodua Peoples Congress; Agbekoyas, hunters and vigilantes into the Western Nigeria Security Outfit codenamed Operation Amotekun (leopard).
The operation, billed to be inaugurated in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Thursday, was the outcome of a security summit organised by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria for the region’s six governors last year to tackle the kidnappings, ritual killings and other violent crimes ravaging the region.
Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, had said in his New Year message that Amoketun would be inaugurated on January 9.
Fayemi said, “On January 9, 2020, the Western Nigeria Security Network known as ‘Amotekun’ shall commence operations in all the six states in our zone.”
A security expert close to the Osun State Governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, who spoke on condition of anonymity with one of our correspondents on Saturday, said the government security agencies rejected the plan to work together with the ethnic local militias, saying they were not trained in security matters.
The source, however, said the issue had been resolved as the ethnic local militias would be restricted to patrol within their local government areas to gather information for onward sharing with the government security agencies.
He said, “All the state governors will be in Ibadan for the inauguration this week. After this, each state will inaugurate the operation in its domain. Each state will pay salaries to those recruited into the outfit. The states are still coming up with their arrangements on how to pay and how much among other things.
“The hunters, OPC members and other groups who will be part of the outfit will operate from their local government areas. They will gather intelligence for the government security outfit.
“We are involving the police, army, NSCDC and air force in Osun State. There will be toll-free lines which the hunters and others can call whenever they have information to pass.”
It was learnt that about 120 vehicles would be deployed for the central operation with the headquarters located in Gbongan, Osun State, on the Ife-Ibadan Expressway.
The source further said the hunters, vigilantes and other ethnic groups knew their areas well, adding that they could also adequately monitor herdsmen’s movement into communities or forests.
He added, “Their knowledge will be useful in the operation. The police and other government agencies said they could not be in the same patrol vehicles with hunters, vigilantes and other local groups. They said members of the groups were untrained in security matters and they rejected their inclusion in the patrol teams.
“But those people will gather intelligence and pass it to the police and other security groups. The inauguration of the outfit was delayed because that had to be sorted out and we had to ensure that everyone knows their scope of work.’’
On his part, Director General, DAWN, Mr Seye Oyeleye, said the body was not in charge of recruitment into the outfit.
Oyeleye said, “We said it from the beginning that DAWN is not handling the recruitment. But by the grace of God, the security outfit will be inaugurated on Thursday and it will be successful.”
Also, a senior police source in Ogun State told Sunday PUNCH on Saturday night that police officers and other uniformed men drafted to the operation were not comfortable with the pact to have members of the ethnic militias on the patrol team.
He said there had been reactions since the South-West governors disclosed plan to incorporate them into the operation’s patrol team.
The source, who also described the hunters, vigilantes, OPC members and the Agbekoyas as untrained persons on security matters, stated that they might not subject themselves to police control during operation.
He said, “This is not to say they are not important in the security duty. But their lack of formal training is giving the uniformed men a serious concern. I don’t know how the arrangement will work really. It will be a bit difficult to have trained personnel and untrained people in the same patrol vans working together.
“These people may not subject themselves to the police command and control. They may see themselves as authorities. Anyway, we will see its workability when it is inaugurated on Thursday.”
When one of our correspondents contacted the Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, for his comment on the operation, he said the hunters and vigilantes who would be part of the operation in the state were ready.
He said “Our hunters and vigilantes are ready. This is not the issue of OPC or Agbekoyas. We can decide not to use them.’’
Oyeyemi noted that the method to be adopted for the security outfit in the state would be unveiled during the inauguration on Thursday.
No rift between security agencies and OPC, says Akeredolu
The Ondo State Government, however, said on Saturday that all stakeholders were ready for the inauguration of the security outfit in Ibadan on Thursday.
Speaking on behalf of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, his Special Adviser on Security Matters, Alhaji Jimoh Dojumo, noted that there was no problem in the planned operation between the security agencies, local vigilantes and the Oodua Peoples Congress in the state.
He said, “There is nothing like security agencies don’t want to work with the vigilantes and the OPC. Every group had been assigned its roles. There is no clash whatsoever.
“It is not that they don’t want to work with the vigilantes and the OPC. But there should be defined roles for everybody. We have worked it out. That is why we’re inaugurating it on January 9. We need to be careful between the professional groups and the locals and also the constitution must be respected.
We have not involved the vigilantes and the OPC in the exercise. I want to assure you that all stakeholders will be contacted by Monday before the start of the operation. We don’t want anyone to put us under pressure. At the appropriate time, we will contact all those concerned in the operation.”
Similarly, the Public Relations Officer of the state police command, Mr Femi Joseph, expressed the readiness of the command to join hands with the government to ensure the success of the initiative.
Joseph said, “We are ready to work with anybody to achieve the goal of providing adequate security in the state and the South-West.
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