Ondo Launches Operation Amotekun
By Emmanuel Awosika
The Ondo State Government today launched the Ondo State Security Network Agency also known as Operation Amotekun.
Some months back, the bill authorizing the creation of the outfit was passed by the State House of Assembly, and thereafter signed into law by the Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.
Speaking at the inauguration, which held at the Gani Fawehinmi Arcade, Akeredolu said the Amotekun operation would eliminate all forms of criminality from the state.
According to reports, about 192 members of the Amotekun corps were inaugurated at the launching ceremony.
The Governor stated that the inauguration of Operation Amotekun would usher in an era of peace, as no criminal would be allowed to forment trouble in the state.
“It was so horrible that marauders laid siege to the highways as well as in the farmlands waiting to kidnap or devour anyone in sight. With the launch of the Amotekun, we resolved that it shall be no retreat, no surrender. We are not going to be intimidated or blackmailed.
”It is incontrovertible that the existing security framework is being overstretched and we had to devise a means of confronting the challenge of insecurity head-on. That was when the concept of Amotekun came up. As Yorubas, we are not known to surrender to our adversaries and if our forebears did not, we should not.
“On 4th March, this year, just two months after the launch of Amotekun in Ibadan, the Bill setting up the Corps was signed into law, after diligent and thorough work by the State House of Assembly. The import of this is that Amotekun Corps is now a legal entity not just the idea of an individual,” he said.
On his part, leader of the Amotekun Corps, Adetunji Adeleye, stated that the corps were well-prepared to resume their new roles. He explained that they had been trained in collaboration with experts from various security agencies in the state.
He reassured that the Amotekun Corps had no tolerance for crime and promised that the outfit would share intelligence with other security agencies to reduce crime in the state.
