Osun State government on Wednesday night raised the alarm over the influx of Zamfara youths into the state.
The Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, Prince Adeyanju Abdullah Binuyo, who disclosed this in an interview, said the government was aware of the influx but urged the residents not to panic as adequate security measures have been put in place to arrest the situation.
Binuyo further disclosed that all northern youths who came into the state by hiding in trucks carrying essential goods had been tracked down by the government and will immediately be sent back to their home states.
He explained that the government had mandated the Amotekun Corps to effectively man all the entry points and ensure that all trucks bringing essential goods into the state are properly checked and monitored till they offload their goods and immediately escorted out of the state.
According to Binuyo, “Government is aware of a huge influx of non-Osun residents into the state, especially from Zamfara. They were coming majorly through the Ondo axis, accompanying trucks that are carrying food materials purportedly to be sold around the South-West generally.
“The intelligence that we’ve gathered in the last few days is such that they usually have two or a maximum of three people attached to a truck to assist in discharging the goods. But now we have sometimes 10 of them hidden among the goods.
“Sometimes the trucks would stop and drop some of them off along Ife express road where they are received by their fellow northerners already resident in the state.
“The government has been receiving a lot of such reports most especially now that Amotekun has been properly set up. This portends a great danger especially at a time like this when Osun is doing everything to avoid community transmission of COVID-19. This is not the time to be reckless and allow safety or security breaches at our borders.
“The newly inaugurated Amotekun with the support of the police and army have been mandated to identify and man all the entry points, carry out proper checks on the trucks coming in the name of carrying food or relief materials and make sure that anyone found hiding in these trucks are immediately returned to their states.”
The deputy chief of staff maintained that all travel to and from the state remained banned while the land boundaries would “be on lockdown round the clock”, adding that only “food, medical, beverages, petroleum, agriculture and construction supply trucks are exempted but they cannot have more than three persons per truck.”
He assured that adequate security machinery had been put in place to ensure that trucks coming in are offloaded under close watch and immediately escorted out of the state.
Continuing, Binuyo hinted that any security officers found to compromise at any boundary would be made to face the full wrath of the law as a deterrent to others while vehicles caught in violation of the orders would “be forfeited to the state and the passengers prosecuted”.
He said, “as for the officers who compromise the borders, the government and the commissioner of police have agreed that any officer found wanting in this regard will be punished and used as a scapegoat.
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