Igangan killings: Senator Balogun urges FG to license Amotekun to carry arms

Worried by the latest killings in Igangan, Ibarapa North local government area of Oyo state, the lawmaker representing Oyo South in the Senate, Senator Kola Balogun has appealed to the Federal Government to license the South-West Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun, to bear arms.

No fewer than 11 persons were killed when gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen invaded the town on motorcycles around 11pm on Saturday and started killing and destroying property, which continued until around 3am on Sunday.

The senator who spoke while featuring on Channels Television’s programme, ‘Politics Today’ on Monday night and monitored by Nigerian Tribune noted that there is a need for the security to be properly armed so as to effectively confront the bandits who daily wreak havoc in the area.

Balogun also said the attackers had bigger plans but for the quick intervention of vigilantes and Amotekun personnel.

He, therefore, urged the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to grant the Amotekun operatives the license to bear sophisticated weapons in order to confront the marauders.

According to him, ” I appeal to the IG and the police to grant them (Amotekun personnel) the license to be well-equipped as long as what they are doing is in support of what the police is doing.

“Amotekun is active and Amotekun is working even with the police. As a matter of fact, the situation would have been worse but for Amotekun and other local security outfits because from the report that I got, the people that came to invade had bigger plans than what happened.

“It was the community, the Amotekun, the local vigilantes that were mobilised in the middle of the night even though they were ambushed because they were not expecting them but they actually mitigated the effect of the damage.

“So, Amotekun is working and now the South-West governors said they have a joint patrol of Amotekun outfit across the entire South-West.

“Let me also say that I am aware that the Amotekun personnel have requested that the Inspector-General of Police grant them the license to be well-equipped. As we speak now, they are not as equipped as these invaders who are savages and who go on the rampage.

The Senator representing the affected area condemned the attack, adding that all hands must be on the deck to ensure there is no repeat of such attack.

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