The Ondo State Security Network, also known as Amotekun, says it needs automatic weapons to effectively fight armed criminals in the state.
The agency had recently been dealing with recurring kidnapping cases involving alleged cattle herders armed with weapons such as AK47s.
Amotekun Commander Adetunji Adeleye, who was invited to the Ondo State Correspondents’ Chapel Secretariat on Tuesday, said the main challenge facing the agency is inadequate equipment to match what criminals are wearing.
However, he said the agency was not intimidated by its handicap.
“Amotekun, quite appropriately, works with other security agencies in the state. The synergy encompasses the collection of operational, strategic and intelligence information at the grassroots level, and I must tell you that it has produced excellent results,” said Mr. Adeleye.
“Some of the challenges we face as a result of inadequate equipment have cost us the precious lives of some of our men. But we remain determined as we promised to sacrifice ourselves.”
Adeleye said that Amotekun had arrested some 7,000 criminal suspects across the state in the past three and a half years since its inception.
The corps commander said that of those arrested, some 1,500 were charged in court with sentences secured against many defendants.
According to him, thanks to the intervention of the agency, confrontations between farmers and herders have been reduced by more than 95 percent in the last two years.
Mr. Adeleye, special adviser (security affairs) to the state governor and chairman of the Amotekun Commanders Council in the southwest, said the body had been highly successful in fighting crime in the region.
Amotekun was founded on January 9, 2020 in Ibadan, Oyo State, as a regional security team by the governors of southwestern states.
“The support of sister security agencies, particularly DSS, has helped us obtain the required geographic location of kidnapping victims and suspects,” he said.
“All of this, along with our local intelligence and unconventional methods, has helped us to arrest more than 7,000 criminal suspects to date, of whom 1,500 have been charged in court.
“We have even secured the trial of many of them. At a time when the involvement of criminals was becoming unmanageable for the judiciary, the Oluwarotimi Akeredolu government graciously approved the construction of two courts to assist the judiciary in the prompt administration of justice.”
Adeleye said the birth of the Amotekun Corps has helped the state be declared one of the most peaceful in the country.
However, he said that despite skirmishes in some of its border communities, Ondo State has remained peaceful as action has been taken in affected communities.
Adeleye said four officers were summarily fired for violating laws and rules governing the operation of the force, while several others were sent to detention centers to ensure they adhere to the organization’s standard operating rules and practices.
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He said: “By the time we got off the ground, in two weeks, we received more than 5,000 requests for matchups between herders and farmers. It was becoming impossible for farmers to fully go to their farms for fear of being molested, kidnapped, maimed or killed by herders. It was becoming very difficult for officials to board a taxi across town without being kidnapped, harassed, or robbed in broad daylight. The worst was climbing in Okada.
“Amotekun’s first area of attack was the clashes between herders and farmers. We started with the massive public clarification that farmers have the right to plant and herdsmen the right to raise their cows, but they have no right to infringe on each other’s business, and after this, we convened the meeting of the Miyetti Allah group in the State and Southwest, and explained the position of the body, giving a deadline after which we announced that we would start the application.
“To the glory of God, our first operation, we discovered that even inside Alagbaka GRA, where the government house and office is located, more than 500 cows housed the promises that were forcibly taken from a widow and all the Efforts over the last five years at the time to get the widow back on her feet were met with stiff opposition from herdsmen with a final warning that if she dared to return there, she would be buried alive on the premises.
“So, we did the same thing and we were able to arrest over 200 of the cows; the owner and the owners of the farmlands that were destroyed around the place came to claim compensation because we made sure that in compliance with the state government’s position they would pay for what they destroyed.
“In the days that followed, we were able to round up a thousand cows from the Owena Dam around Igbara-oke. We also made sure that, after negotiation between the farmers/herders, they would pay for what they destroyed before giving them their cows.”
The corps commander noted that the implementation of the law against open grazing in the state was also an added bonus for the agency.
Governor Akeredolu had previously called on the federal government to allow state security teams to carry automatic weapons.
The stance pitted him against President Buhari’s administration, and some officials exchanged words with the governor on the issue.
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Let hear it in the comment below if you do have an opinion on this; Amotekun lacks weapons to fight bandits in Ondo