A chieftain of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Lanre Razak, on Tuesday endorsed the establishment of a regional security outfit code named: “Operation Amotekun” by the six SouthWest governors, saying its establishment was long overdue for the security of lives and property in the zone.
Chief Rasak gave his backing while speaking on the security outfit against the backdrop of controversies its establishment had generated.
However, the politician called on the South-West governors, who initiated the move, to do everything possible within the law to ensure its workability because of its importance to the security of the citizenry.
According to Chief Rasak, who is a member of the Lagos Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), the security situations in the country calls for more hands to be on deck to complement the Federal Government’s efforts at curbing the menace, even as he asserted that, the Amotekun is not out to usurp the duties of the regular security agencies in the country.
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He argued that since bandits and criminals were not spirits but humans living within the community, it would be easier for the local outfit to identify them and their hideouts, saying this would able outfit such as Amotekun “to fish them out and hand them over to the regular security agencies for appropriate actions.”
While thanking the Federal Government under the able leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, for appreciating the need for community policing, he urged the government to show more understanding towards the actual motive of the Amotekun protagonists as an added advantage for curbing crimes in the country.
Rasak maintained that the tension the establishment of Amotekun was generating right now was unnecessary, saying, “with cooperation, understanding and open-heartedness, the issue would come out as one of the helping hands the government needs for the purpose of securing the citizenry and their property.”
Speaking further, the APC chieftain gave kudos to the security agencies in the country for a yeoman job they had been doing to keep the country secured, saying it took people of the high degree of patriotism to leave their family at home and put their lives at risk for the sake of their fellow countrymen.
“It takes people of high degree of patriotism to leave their family at home and put their lives at risk for the sake of their fellow countrymen,” he said.