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…South-West security network begins operations in Ogun
Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has warned the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) to desist from “plot” to infiltrate the Southwest Security Network (Amotekun).
The Yoruba organisation gave the warning in reaction to MACBAN’s call for the inclusion of its members and other ethnic bodies in the outfit.
OPC said the demand was a ploy to weaken the Amotekun and put the region in “perpetual security threat”.
The group’s Publicity Secretary, Yinka Oguntimehin, in a statement on Tuesday, advised MACBAN to drop the idea.
“OPC will never allow Miyetti Allah to set our region on fire. We cannot afford to see the South-West facing the kind of security challenges faced daily in the North-East and North-West.
“Our group will never fold its arms and allow overrun by herdsmen and marauders. That is why we are warning leaders of the group to desist from their sinister motives and leave Amotekun alone in the region.”
Oguntimehin lambasted the leader of herders in Oyo State, Ibrahim Jiji for making the “unrealistic request”, maintaining that MACBAN lacked credibility.
The spokesman urged the Federal Government to beam a searchlight on Jiji, noting that no Yoruba group ever demanded to be included into Northern formations like Hisbah, Middle Belt security outfit, among others.
He vowed that OPC will resist any attempt to soil the name of Amotekun.
Meanwhile, the Ogun State Government has said the security of lives and property will now become a unified effort with the full operation of the South-West security outfit, code-named Amotekun in the state.
A statement on Tuesday said the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Alhaji Shuaib Salisu, disclosed this while featuring on a live Television programe in Abeokuta, adding the commencement of the outfit in the state would fortify the existing security architecture.
Although he did not mention a specific date for the commencement, Salisu was quoted as saying that the days of criminals were numbered with the appointment of retired Commissioner of Police, David Akinremi, as the commandant of the security outfit.
The CoS said the government had procured 100 patrol vehicles, 200 motorcycles and communication gadgets to enhance its operations, adding that Amotekun would have formations in all the 20 local government areas of the state
“He said part of strategies of the state government to curb criminality is to devise means, noting that over 20,000 youths have been employed through Ogun Jobs Portal,” the statement read partly.
