Operation Amotekun: Akintoye lauds S/West govs, rallies support for OPC, others

Head of the Assembly of All Yoruba Groups Worldwide, Professor Banji Akintoye, has lauded South-West governors for their initiative in establishing a joint security outfit tagged Operation Amotekun to address insecurity issues confronting the geopolitical zone.

He stated this on Friday at a special conference for cardinal investment on Agriculture organised by the Oduduwa United People Association (ODUPA) in Abeokuta,  Ogun State noting that the outfit would improve awareness and vigilance among the people of the South-West, as well as fight the onslaught of herdsmen attacks.

The professor of History also called for support from local security forces such as the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), AgbeKoya, Yoruba Koya, Soludero, among others, to improve security in the zone.

He also rallied the support of traditional hunters, in the cities and towns to support the security initiative.

Operation Amotekun, a security strategy meant to combat killings and kidnapping in the zone will be inaugurated by the governors on January 9.

He said the Yoruba must be “ready to defend their families, communities, farmlands, villages, churches, mosques and shrines from attacks by invaders.

“We must wake up and energise our existing citizen defence forces, such as Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), AgbeKoya, Yoruba Koya, Soludero, etc. With each of these doing what they can do, we shall quickly show the Fulani marauders that Yorubland is not the kind of land they should invade.

“We must also mobilise our traditional hunters in all our cities and towns. We must pressurize our state governments to consider reviving the Colonial Forest Guard institution for special deployment in our rural areas.

In a related development, the South-West Stakeholders Security Group (SSSG) on Saturday lauded the move by South-West state governors to start the joint security taskforce across the zone.

SSSG, rising from a meeting at the Omole Phase 2 residence of the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, gave its nod to the new initiative, saying it was ready to complement the efforts of the governors and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in their plan to make the South-West safe for the people.

Adams, who is the convener of the group, said efforts to curb the security challenges in the region were beginning to yield positive results.

According to him, the group, comprising the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), the South-West Hunters Association (SWHAN), the Agbekoyas, South-West Agbekoya Group (SAG), Agbekoya Farmers Society Group, and Yoruba Youth Council (YYC), among others, has since inception in July 2019 made significant efforts to reduce the spate of insecurity in the South-West.

Adams reiterated the need to create a workable synergy between the security outfits and the leaders at the grassroots, pointing out that all over the world, security of lives and property remained the priority of every government.

“All over the world, security of lives and property remains the priority of every government. It is when the country is safe and secure that we can think of other necessities. That is why as a group, we have made concerted efforts to form this alliance in order to make the region safe for us,” the Aare OnaKakanfo said.