Commander of the Ondo State Security Network Agency also known as Amotekun, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, who is also the Chairman of the commanders of the Amotekun in the South-West, speaks to PETER DADA about the operation of the corps in Ondo State and the region in general. Before the Christmas and New Year celebrations, you promised that the state would not have any security breach anywhere and that your men would patrol for 24 hours....Read Full Article >>➤
How did the operation go? Yes, first of all, we thank God Almighty for his divine protection of all my officers and men and myself throughout the Yuletide period. Again, we thank the government of Ondo State under the leadership of Dr Lucky Aiyedatiwa who gave the Amotekun an enabling environment to operate. I also thank the good people of Ondo State for their support concerning the actionable information they gave us.
You will recall that at that time, I told you that the Amotekun rangers were already in the forest and that we had commenced border patrols. Again, we also started the ember month patrol. So, these three activities were engineered towards ensuring that people can enjoy their Yuletide holiday. We give thanks to God.
You will also recall that in the last four years, I assured the good people of the state that there wouldn’t be the usual bank robberies that characterised festive periods, especially the Christmas festival, and God also assisted us in sustaining this.
I think the collaboration that we have with all security agencies, especially the police, the army, the DSS (Department of State Services), and the men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, assisted greatly in improving the security situation of Ondo State.
Does that mean there was no record of security breaches throughout the festive period?
We cannot say that there were no skirmishes in some places because there is no environment that is 100 per cent crime-free, but at least we can confidently say that throughout the holidays until now when we are rounding off the ember months’ patrol, we’ve been able to maintain peace and order.
During the period under review, was there any arrest made, and how many were they?
I can tell you in the last three months, we arrested over 300 suspects from about 15 locations in the 18 local government areas of the state. The majority of them were arrested in connection with criminal activities such as kidnapping, armed robbery, housebreaking, and several other smaller criminal offences. Some of them were taken to court, some of them, we were able to resolve their matter. But as we are, we have many of them in the correctional centres in the state.
We are in a new year now and it is believed that you have a lot of activities in front of you now. How prepared are you for this year?
Well, this year, the Ondo State Security Network Agency is fully prepared to work with all other security agencies to ensure that security breaches are promptly attended to. You know, security is everybody’s business, and the consciousness is gradually increasing.
Of late, what we have experienced is an increase in herders-farmers’ clashes, like it was about three years ago, and the influx of these people into our region. But we’ve been trying to address it, especially with the anti-open grazing law of Ondo State, which is fully operational. So, we are sure we will be able to checkmate that too.
What should the people of the state be expecting from the security outfit this year?
They should expect an improved security system for the good people of Ondo State. That’s what they should expect.
Recently, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo cried out, maybe from the security report he got, that some bandits who fled the northern part of the country were now coming to the South-West. As the chairman of Amotekun in the region, what are you doing to these bandits to stop them from entering the South-West?
A couple of weeks ago, all the commanders of the South-West met, and one of the things we discussed, which we took seriously during the meeting, was to ensure that our borders were not porous for these miscreants to enter the South-West. So, as we talk now, all the states have geared up action towards ensuring the safety at the borders and I’m sure this will definitely deter the bandits from entering the South-West.
But following the outcry of Governor Makinde, it was learnt that the Amotekun corps in the South-West had recruited 1,200 personnel to go into the border areas to checkmate the likely influx of these bandits. Is this true?
What I will say about that is that these are serious security issues that cannot be discussed in the media. The strategies for ensuring that our borders are not porous are not things we can discuss in public, but what I can say is that we have mapped the strategies that are working for us in the South-West to deter miscreants and bandits from coming in.
We also gathered that some people in the local communities are aiding the kidnappers by giving information to bandits. What are you doing about the issue?
Don’t forget that Amotekun is a different security organisation. It is different in the sense that every Amotekun person has his traditional ruler, and his senior civil servant signed as guarantors. We equally have what we call Amotekun ambassadors, apart from the intelligence unit of the Amotekun.
So, we have gone around all towns and villages and made sure that we can pick information, grassroots information that will assist us in identifying the bad eggs that relate closely with the criminals and the system has yielded good results for us.
Apprehending all the criminals was due to the grassroots intelligence report we received from the villages and towns within the state. So, I think by and large, the issue of homegrown security requires homegrown solutions to our perennial domestic criminal activities.
Why are we still having these hoodlums despite various efforts of security operatives, including Amotekun, to checkmate them?
Well, a lot of things are involved in this matter. One of them is food insecurity. Many youths are not employed; there is joblessness in the land. This gives rise to the Yahoo-Yahoo syndrome, the fraudsters are there, and other social vices. This is because most of these youths are educated, and they are not gainfully employed.
So, I think the starting point is for the Federal Government to provide job opportunities for all educated young men and women in the country. Let us now know that it is the lazy ones who will not be gainfully employed. But in a situation where somebody has graduated three, four, or five years, then he sees what the lucky ones out of his mates are doing and he cannot fit in. What else will you do? He will engage himself in different forms of criminal activities because there is a saying that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop.
I think the starting point is for the government to employ the youths. Agriculture is good in Nigeria; we should embrace it. If it is mechanised, many youths will be gainfully employed. But look at the cost of cocoa in the international market today. Everybody should go into plantations and produce at least what his immediate environment can feed on. In my opinion, this will go a long way in addressing the security challenges we face in the country.
Does the Amotekun have a way or a department for the rehabilitation of offenders after serving their jail terms?
What we do right now is that we don’t take all criminals to court. That is why I say, if you look at it, the state government at a time granted amnesty to some of these criminals. We also have the Dispute Resolution Department, and when some of these issues are resolved, they may not necessarily go to court. But apart from that, we hand many of them over to the Magistrates and High Courts as the case may be.
We learnt that one of your challenges is the inability of the corps to carry firearms. How have you been able to confront the bandits who are armed with AK-47 rifles and other sophisticated weapons?
We are putting our lives on the line. What they provided for us is what we are using and that is what we will continue to use. Automatic weapons are on the exclusive list, and we will not go near it.
Apart from that, what are the other challenges the corps is facing?
Well, we would have wanted improved technology for tracking and location of criminals, and a lot of gadgets to enhance our operational capability, improved intelligence, and improved equipment. These are the major areas where we would want to improve upon this year.
How has the collaboration with other security agencies in the state added to the success of your operations?
Ondo State Security Network Agency has a fantastic relationship with all other security agencies. We work together; we carry out operations together with them and there is no form of discrimination at all. Our achievements are there for everybody to see.
You have a few years ahead; what do you want to leave behind in Amotekun as a legacy or template that the people who are coming behind you will follow?
Well, we have put a template in place for others to follow such that if you look at the security situation when we came in and now, the difference is clear. So, others coming will improve on the foundation we’ve laid. Right now, we have zero tolerance for crime and zero tolerance for corruption, and we ensure that our jobs are done the way they should be done.
How are you coping with the political class who may want to interfere in one way or the other in your operations?
We don’t play politics with security at all in Ondo State. There is no form of interference from the political class on the security architecture of the Ondo State Security Network Agency. We do our work the way it should, and that is one of the reasons why we’ve been able to achieve this little success that people can see. So, once a criminal is caught, you face the music, and many of them are running away and departing from committing crimes.
So, are you under any pressure whatsoever while doing your job?
Not at all, we are not under any pressure from anywhere. ...Read Full Article >>➤
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