Former Head of Military Intelligence and Oyo State Chairman of Western Nigerian Security Network (a.k.a. Amotekun), Gen. Kunle Togun (rtd.), has said that the insecurity in Oyo is deep; hence residents should not expect Amotekun operatives to perform magic in a month.
Togun stated this yesterday while featuring as guest of a parley on the Nigerian situation organised by the National Association of Public Affairs Analysts (NAPAA) at Sango, Ibadan.
Present at the parley were frontline analysts, columnists and commentators, including the Executive Secretary of NAPAA, Jare Ajayi; Mashood Erubami, Adeleke Pamilerin, Omololu Ejidiran and Segun Ogungbayi.
The retired General said: “The insecurity in Oyo has spread. People are just watching.
“But, Security is everybody’s business. People should not go to sleep because there is Amotekun. They should make information on any crime available to us. That is the role of the public.”
According to him, Amotekun operatives are neither magicians nor God.
“People should not expect insecurity in Oyo to end in one week or one month because Amotekun has been established. They are not magicians. It doesn’t work that way. Insecurity in Oyo is so extensive and it has to take time,” he added.
Togun also declared that there would be continuous training for Amotekun officers, for effective discharge of their duties, adding that more combatant officers would be brought into the outfit to coordinate the regions.
On the board of the outfit, he said: “There is a board for which I have been appointed as the chairman. But it has not been inaugurated. We are still pressurising the governor to inaugurate it because there are roles the board is supposed to play.”
Lamenting insecurity in the South West and Nigeria as a whole, he urged the region’s governors to strengthen Amotekun by giving its officers more training to enhance their capacity.
The former Defence Adviser to the Benin Republic also lamented Nigeria’s security unconsciousness, noting that Benin Republic was more committed to its security.
The elder statesman also stressed the need for the Yoruba to put aside internal wrangling in order to achieve unity and development.
He faulted the 1999 Constitution, saying “it is not a people’s constitution.”
