Following the recommendations of the South West Security Summit, held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the Chairman of the South West Governors’ Forum and Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu,SAN, has procured over 100 motorcycles and twenty trucks for the take-off of the ‘Amotekun’ Security arrangement.
‘Amotekun’ is a code name for the security arrangements of the south west Governors, as part of the resolutions to tackle the growing wave of insecurity in the region.
For a start, the Ondo State government, under the leadership of Governor Akeredolu procured the items to aid the jobs of the personnel that would be employed to secure the areas, with more expected to follow.
At a briefing in Akure, the Ondo state capital, Commissioner for information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, told reporters that the action was a first step against insecurity.
According to him, South West governors are worried about the current security challenges facing the region
He said they had jointly taken a drastic measure to reduce high rate of insecurity.
The commissioner said: “The security architecture being put in place by the South West governors will be all-encompassing and a continuous process to effectively curb kidnapping and other criminality in the state”.
He said all the forests which criminals are using as hideouts would be combed and criminals flushed out completely.
The commissioner said “in a few weeks’ time security outfit will be unveiled and the spate of insecurity being witnessed in the last three or four months would have been reduced to the barest minimum, if not totally eradicated”.
According to him, it will be code named Amotekun.
“Mr Governor, who is also the Chairman, South West Governor’s Forum, has taken some far reaching measures which are highly commendable. He is not resting on his oars.
“The people can be rest assured that in a matter of days, the forests of Ondo will be put under proper security surveillance through useful intelligence gathering,” the Commissioner added.
Ojogo also hinted that Akeredolu had initiated the Security Trust Fund, which he said was the outcome of the Security Summit held in Ondo State late last year.
He added that the development would bring drastic measures to curb violence and insecurity.
