Indication emerged that leaders of some ethnic groups in Yorubaland like the Oodua Peoples Congress and Agbekoya were awaiting South-West governors to request personnel from their fold for the anticipated joint security outfit code named ‘Operation Amotekun.’
Amotekun is the Yoruba word for a leopard and it’s believed that the security operation was conceived by the governors to tackle the security challenges facing the region. In recent times, some states have been battling with banditry and kidnapping. The governors had planned to launch the operation in October.
The National Coordinator of the OPC, Chief Gani Adams, said leaders of the groups had united to complement the efforts of the security agencies.
He said, “The present stage is that the group is awaiting the response of the governors so that we can know the number of security personnel needed.
Some of the group members are the OPC, Agbekoya, vigilantes, Yoruba Youth Council and the community security awareness initiative.’’
“These groups have resolved to jointly work together. We have written to the governors, chief security advisers and commissioners of police in the South-West. We are ready to complement the efforts of the security agencies. We have held meetings in Lagos and another one would hold on Wednesday in Ibadan, Oyo State.’’
The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, who noted that the operation should be supported by every Yoruba because it was in the interest of the South-West, said the local security groups were operating under the banner of ‘South-West Security Stakeholders Group.’
On whether the outfit would not be interpreted as operating under the guise of state police, Adams said members of the outfit would share intelligence with the security agencies and hand over arrested criminals to them for prosecution.
The Commissioner for Information, Ekiti State, Mr Muyiwa Olumilua, said the police, as the leading law enforcement agency in internal security, would play primary roles in the initiative.
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