Face of Oyo Amotekun to be rolled out soon — Commandant

By AKEEM ABAS

Retired Col. Olayinka Olayanju, Oyo State Commandant of Amotekun Security Outfit, says the much expected face of Amotekun will be rolled out very soon.

Olayanju told newsmen on Wednesday in Ibadan after Amotekun Stakeholders Forum held at the Western Hall of Oyo State Government Secretariat.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the forum, with the theme

‘Employing Technology For Adequate Crime Protection in Oyo State’, was attended by various groups in the state.

“Amotekun has commenced. When you are saying security, there are certain aspects of security that you will see which is the showmanship, but the actual security you don’t see them.

“But for the uniform, the face of Amotekun, very soon we will roll it out. We don’t want to do anything that anybody will come around to abuse us.

“If you don’t do due diligence in your approach, you are likely to nail yourself, to be blackmailed and we don’t want that,” he said.

Olayanju said that Amotekun security outfit, when rolled out, would partner with the existing security agencies in the state and Operation Burst, the state security outfit.

According to him, “Amotekun is to partner all the security agencies and help to ensure that there is effective and efficient security.

“As for now, the face of security in Oyo State is the police and we, when we finally roll out, what we are trying to do is to partner, support and collaborate with them.

“We are not coming as an independent body, but work in synergy with all security agencies,” he said.

He assured the people of the state that the security outfit was not going to be a dumping ground or job for the boys, saying they would ensure transparency and proper screening.

The retired soldier also assured that they would ensure that officers of the security outfit were groomed in line with their areas of expertise or specialty.

“I can assure you that once it rolls out, you will see clearly that this is a transparent thing. It is not going to be job for the boys or a dumping ground,” he said.

Olayanju, who described Amotekun as a community-oriented programme, said that matter of security was a collective responsibility of all and sundry.

He said that it was the reason why they brought various groups like Agbekoya, traders union, market women, Oodua Peoples Congress together to the forum to obtain the views of the people and feel their pulse.

NAN reports that the forum was attended by retired Gen. Kunle Togun, Chairman of the security outfit, other officers of the outfit and several Yoruba groups across the state. (NAN)