Amotekun’ll confront bandits in forest — Akeredolu

Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), has said that members of the South West security outfit, Amotekun, would no longer wait for herdsmen and bandits terrorising the state to attack the people, but take the battle to them in the forest.

He also noted that since the criminals acquired prohibited and sophisticated arms to carry out their nefarious activities without check, the governors may  be compelled to acquire their own weapons to confront them headlong.

Speaking during the Politics Today programme on Channels Television, yesterday, Akeredolu decried a situation where criminals are left to acquire illegal weapons, while Nigerians are disposed of their legally acquired weapons. “We cannot continue like this any longer. The governors will adopt their own ways to get arms to defend their people,” he added.

He equally said that if the worsening security situation is to be controlled, Nigeria must begin to seriously consider the issue of state police, because that is the only way out of this insecurity mess in Nigeria: “We know the limitations of our security agencies, which is caused by our perverted federalism. We cannot secure Nigeria with a central police command. We need to have state police. A situation where one command sits in Abuja to give orders to the rest of the country is no longer factional now,” he said.

The governor also charged the people of Ondo State to, henceforth, confront the criminals when they attack them, instead of running into their homes.

“We can’t run away from them. We must be prepared to confront the challenge. Our people cannot afford to lay back as if we are lazy. We are not lazy; we are indomitable. How we are going to confront the criminals is not what we shall discuss in public, but how we are going to do it is nobody’s business,” he said.

On the lessons learnt from the Owo Catholic Church attack, he said: “We should be more careful and very alert at all times to identify strangers in our midst at all times. And when incidents like that happen, we should not run into our houses, but confront it, and that way, the attackers will not be able to escape.”

Again, on the alleged arrest of some of the criminals involved in the Owo attack, the governor said the Amotekun Commander never said he arrested anybody. The man said they only recovered their vehicle and a handset which they handed over the DSS for analysis and further investigation.

He also disagreed with the Federal Government’s position that Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) was responsible for the attack, saying the government was too quick to make such a claim. He noted that ISWAP always takes responsibility when they carry out an attack and up till now it has not taken responsibility. How do we determine those behind the attack when herdsmen, bandits and terrorists are all in the bushes.

He said the government, as a matter of urgency, should strengthen the police and other sister agencies. (Daily Sun)