A civil society organization, the Societal Safety Network, SSN, has warned governors of the South-West states against endangering the lives of Yoruba people living in other parts of the country, with their resolve to operate a security outfit called Amotekun. The group at a world press conference in Abuja said though the increasing spate of insecurity was worrisome; launching a security outfit with the imprint of regional coloration does not augur well for a federal state like Nigeria. This is even as it called on the governors to devote a substantial part of their security votes to assist security agencies to tackle crime and criminality in the land.
Addressing journalists on the matter, SSN Executive Director, Abdulrahman Agboola stressed the importance of collaborating with police formations, as against the constitution of new security outfits to combat all forms of criminality in the country. “We seriously frown against insecurity in Nigeria but to play politics with the security of the people is highly mischievous. Police stations and correctional centres in the South-West have many criminals and suspects of Yoruba descents, serving jail terms and those under trial for different heinous crimes, which is to state that criminals have no tribes or ethnicity. We fear that if Amotekun is misunderstood as targeting a particular ethnic group, this will expose Yorubas living in other parts of the country to dangers with predicted reprisal attacks as history recorded during past ethnic clashes. “The country does not currently operate a regional government and the declaration of a regional security outfit is an aberration that should not ordinarily attract stoppage of security votes by the federal government and except individual states begin to display proof of judicious usage of the security votes, the present circumstances could remain unabated,” Agboola said.
Expressing fears of increasing security threats in the event that Amotekun is allowed to take off, Agboola had this to say: “During the hullabaloo on the Amotekun debacle, the South-East governors were charged by their kinsmen to follow the suit and prepare for a launch of similar platform while the North Central held a security summit and voices arose from the North West and North East demanding for the conveyance of similar security network in their geopolitical zones,” he said even as he called on Nigerians of all walks of life to do everything possible to make the country work.
