ON the heels of the security alarm raised by the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, heads of Amotekun in states of the South-West geopolitical zone have said a combination of local intelligence, security strategies of state actors and security consciousness of all and sundry are being relied upon to tackle security threats in the zone.
Adams had in a statement on Sunday noted that intelligence reports indicated that terrorists, who are fully armed with various arms and ammunition, were already massing in forests both in Osun and Ogun states and were planning to strike in Lagos, Ibadan and Abeokuta.
However, in various conversations with the Nigerian Tribune, on Monday, heads of Amotekun in Ogun, Ekiti, Oyo, Osun said vigilance, proactiveness, collaboration between locals and security agencies had become more imperative now than ever to stamp out the security threats.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, the Ogun State Commander of Amotekun, CP David Aderemi (rtd), said that the operatives of the security outfit had identified the forests and were monitoring the situation. He said there was synergy between the state security command and others in the South-West states to deal with threats to Yoruba land.
Aderemi said: “The piece of information is a good one. We have our men on ground to monitor our forests. We are working hand in hand with our colleagues in other South-West States on security issues. We are not relaxing.
“We are gathering intelligence on movement of people in our forests. We have our volunteers all over that are providing us with information. We will continue to provide safety for lives and property.”
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The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said that the command had commenced intelligence gathering over the information.
He said: “We do not take anything that has to do with securing the lives of people and property lightly. We promptly work on any piece of information that concerns security to ascertain whether it is genuine or not.
“All necessary things that need to be done will be worked on. We are not taking the information for granted.”
On his part, the Amotekun commander in Ekiti State, Brigadier-General Joe Komolafe (rtd) in a chat with Nigerian Tribune said operatives of the security network had been trained to always prevent the breakdown of law and order, stressing that the agency relied on information from the people on activities of individuals with criminal tendencies in their environment.
He stated: “The locals in those areas across are the ones to give us timely and accurate information about the unusual movement of people in those forests and we will take it up from there.
“The people should be vigilant and report anything unusual in their areas. They should not wait till when it happens; that will be reactive method which means giving the criminals edge over us. Let us be proactive.”
In Osun, the Amotekun field commander, Amitolu Shittu, while speaking with Nigerian Tribune, said the security outfit is ever battle-ready, warning that terrorists who attempt attack on Osun will meet their waterloo.
Amitolu who described the Yorubas as peace-loving people who abhor shedding of blood, however, maintained that that has not made the tribe to be cowards.
Amitolu said: “We are not known for cowardice. We are not cowards and we can- not live in cowardice. We are valiant warriors in the land, in the sea, in the air and we are warlords of warlords who are great in battle; we are unrepentant warriors in any battle field.”
In the same vein, the state commander of Nigeria hunters’ association in the state, Chief Ahmed Nureni, said the state government had provided them with 62 motorcycles to survey the nooks and crannies of the state and tackle security threats.
The leader of the hunters, who said they had gotten the premonition of the alarm raised by Iba Gani Adams said, his men in conjunction with the state police command had been patrolling around the forest reserves in the state to tackle criminal acts.
Nureni said there would be no retreat, no surrender in any battle to fight the insurgency, adding that “as I am talking with you now, we are in the forest to rescue a man kidnapped by abductors and we will not leave the place until we apprehend the evil perpetrators.”
While reacting to the alarm, the state police command said they are prepared for both seen and unforseen situations, affirming that its men are always on guard to fight criminal acts in the state.
The public relations officer of the command, Mrs Yemisi Opalola, who made this known, added that they keep vigils in some forests in the state to fish out devilish people, assuring residents of the state of their safety.
Opalola said the command is on top of the security situation in the state, adding that the police was working hand in hand with hunters to fight criminal acts in the state.
The chairman, Oyo Amotekun, General Kunle Togun (rtd), said the outfit is not oblivious of the threat to Yorubaland, and has been working on dealing with the threats. He queried the intelligence alluded to by the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, asserting that the Amotekun had its own better sources of intelligence and had done its own analy- sis to know the threats to Yorubaland.
Notwithstanding efforts of the Amotekun to conquer the threats, Togun said it had become imperative for everybody to take security as their business and be keen on ways to defend themselves and family members from insecurity.
“What is the source of Gani Adams’ intelligence? We also have our sources of intelligence and have been on it for some time. I know that our sources of intelligence are better than that of Gani Adams. I have had security intelligence network in Oyo State as far back as 1996; I am a professional in that field. I have my threat analysis even before I was made chairman, Amotekun.
“There is threat to Yorubaland; I have been saying this for over 10 years. I know the threat to Yoruba land and I know what I had been doing before I was made chairman, Amotekun. Since I got to Amotekun, we have been working on the threats to Yorubaland. We cannot be revealing everything.
“Everybody should know that security is everybody’s business. Everybody should find ways to defend himself and their family. Amotekun will not conquer all the threats,” Togun said.
Similarly, Special Adviser on Security to Governor Seyi Makinde on Security, Fatai Owoseni, said intelligence had long before the observation by the Aare Onakakanfo pointed to the security threat to Yorubaland.
In dealing with the threat, Owoseni said the strategy adopted in the state is getting the local actors well involved in security under a strategy known as integrated security concept. Under the strategy, Owoseni said local government chairmen, traditional rulers, vigilante are an integral part of the state security architecture, working with the state actors.
He said the state continued to strengthen its proactiveness to dealing with security threats and ramping up its response capacity when crime occurs.
Asked about recent kidnap incidents in Ogbomoso zone of the state, Owoseni described them as opportunistic crimes but noted that with the support of the local community, people at the grassroots, the state continued to combat insecurity.
Owoseni said: “It is because you people listen to what you probably want to listen to. Was it the Aare Onakanfo that first made that observation? Intelligence report had been shared on that long ago. But, by the way, we factor all our strategy on being proactive; we don’t want to be reactive. With a few incidents we have had for the past two weeks, I can specifically tell you that in addition to all the state has been doing, all throughout last week, the security heads have been meeting.
“The main strategy is to get the local actors well involved in security and ensure this is done in tandem with our own strategy. We changed our strategy into integrated security concept so that non-state actors will be an integral part of our security architecture. All the local government chairmen with the support of the traditional rulers are put in place immediately. This is because once you get the local actors involved, you will see something and say something.
“The guys that are threatening everybody are not spirits and that is human intelligence. More than ever, we have charged all the local government chairmen regarding security. “We are not oblivious of the fact that there is threat everywhere and we want to make Oyo state impenetrable for any of these criminal acts.
“We also want to strengthen our proactive policy and in addition, we have factored that where it happens at all, we strengthen our response capacity.”