Osun State’s Governor.Ademola Adeleke wants Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun to reopen the sealed offices of the Western Nigerian Security Network, popularly known as Amotekun Corps.
Adeleke spoke in a statement of Friday by his spokesperson, Malam Olawale Rasheed.
The Governor demanded the immediate lifting of the ban on the security outfit as he warned against spillover of banditry and kidnapping from Kwara State to Osun.
He gave the warning while responding to a case of kidnapping at Ora Igbomina area of the state.
According to Adeleke, the state had become handicapped in its security response to killers’ attacks as the Amotekun Offices remained sealed by the police with the corps’ top officers in detention without trial for several months.
The Governor maintained that the Amotekun service had over the years developed the containment expertise especially in the rural border areas.
He noted that the police’s shutting down of the service operations created a huge gap being exploited by bandits and criminals.
Adeleke urged the IGP to charge those detained to court and unseal the service, warning that further delay might endanger the rural population and open the state to further criminal infiltration.
He said: “I am taking this matter to the public domain in view of another kidnapping at Ora Igbomina. Closing down Amotekun exposes Osun people to serious risks.
“I call on the Inspector General of Police to unseal Amotekun and allow its operatives to secure my people across the grassroots.
“Those officers in detention should be charged to court after several months of incarceration.
“Any further delay in the unsealing of Amotekun will further jeopardise the safety and security of our people”, the Governor was quoted as saying after a closed-door security meeting.”
