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Bolu-Olu Esho
As Senate decides the State Policing bill on Wednesday, the South-West Network codenamed Amotekun Corps has declared that the region is ready for the take-off of the state police immediately President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assents the bill.
Corps Commander Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, who’s the chairman of the Corps commanders, disclosed this on Wednesday in Akure, Ondo State capital, while parading 46 crime suspects at the headquarters of the formation.
He described the State Policing as a right step at right direction.
Adeleye emphasised that the State Policing is the beginning of the end to the current insecurity challenges in the country.
According to him, “On the issue of state policing. In the last couple of years, the position of the Council of Amotekun Commanders of the South-West has always been that state policing remains the only viable solution to the present insecurity in the country because it’s easier, especially by adopting the Amotekun initiative, to identify criminals.
“That is why you find out that this year alone we have arrested and prosecuted well over 500 suspected criminals, and in so many of those cases we’ve been vindicated. Some of them are serving their various jail terms.
“So, I think it is a giant stride in the right direction, adopting state policing as a way of decentralizing the security architecture of the country.
“As per our readiness, as far as the South-West is concerned, we are ready to adjust and conform with whatever is put in place to ensure the smooth takeoff of state policing.”
Speaking on the suspects paraded, the Corps Commander disclosed that 46 suspects were arrested and ready to be arranged for committing different crimes, including kidnapping, robbery and breach of anti-open gracing law of the state.
He said: “Out of these 46, 13 are suspected kidnappers, two were arrested under the anti-open-grazing law, while 31 were arrested for different types of criminal activities, which include cultism, illegal possession of firearms, breach of peace, stealing of iron, and other domestic criminal activities.
“On kidnapping, the suspects are arrested in the government reserve area of Owo. The prevailing situations made it imperative for the Corps to sustain what is supposed to be Sallah patrols. So, up till now, we have the Border Control Patrol, the Amotekun Rangers, the Operations Department, the Commander Squads, and all operational units of the Corps working in the 18 local governments in continuation of what was supposed to be a Sallah patrol.
“So, we have ongoing cases and fresh ones, ongoing as of today for the parade of this morning, we deeply have a group of burglars and armed robbers that specialises in breaking into houses in the Lajeya and Oketefuku, our local government area of the states.”
Speaking on suspects, who sneaked into the residence of a former Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt.Hon. Jumoke Akindele in Okitipupa, over the weekend and carted away different valuables, including her telephone handsets, Adeleye disclosed that a couple was apprehended by Amotekun operatives while trying to ship the handsets to Lagos.
He explained that “A couple of days ago, they busted into the house of one of our dignitaries and carted away a lot of things. But within 24 hours, we were able to arrest the kingpin.
“We still have two at large, but we have two of them on the parade today and we were able to recover expensive phones and other items.”
He further explained that “On the parade today, we equally have a group of kidnappers, which incidentally too, the victims are here and they’ve identified them to be those that kidnapped them in our local government.
“They confronted our men, but we were able to overpower them and we brought them here today. They are equally on the parade. We have a total of 46 suspects ready to go to court on the parade today.”
The Corps Commander emphasized that the dusk to dawn ban on motorcycle in the state still subsists.
He, however, called on those whose motorcycles were impounded for breaching the dusk to dawn ban to come to the formation s headquarters at Alagbaka to retrieve them after paying fines to the state Internal Revenue Service.
According to Adeleye, “I welcome you and I also want to place on record that my Principal Excellency, Honourable Dr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, in his usual compassionate disposition to security-related issues, I graciously approved that all Okada that were impounded for defaulting this year in the ban on Okada from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. be granted leave to fulfil the conditions of the Corps preceded to the release of their Okada within the next 15 days.
“The implication of this is that if you defaulted and your Okada was impounded, you bring relevant papers and you fulfil the necessary conditions, then your Okada will be released.
“Those with breaches of security involving robbery, kidnapping, are separate cases, not inclusive in the gracious disposition of Mr. Governor.
“Again today, as we are talking now, we have some suspects already in courts, various courts, the magistrate courts, the high courts, some in Ikare, some in Owo and some in Akure.
“The implication is that there is no hiding place for criminals in Ondo State. The trend has been that most of the time when these criminal activities take place, at the end of the day, they are arrested, tried, and the long arm of the law usually catches up with them. That is why, again, we advise that criminals should leave Ondo State.
“Across board, we are happy to say that the state is very, very safe, and the security stability in conjunction with all the security agencies in the state is robust to the extent that the forest combing, the clearance operation, and joint patrols among security agencies goes on.”
