Amotekun has justified reasons for its establishment – Akogun Adeleye

CITIZENS COMPASS – The Ondo State Security Network (codenamed AMOTEKUN) has proven to be a good force in the state under the leadership of the Corps Commander, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye since its establishment four years ago by the late former Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.

This was in the face of heightened economic and political tension that almost pulled down the state.

It would be recalled that the state had degraded into such a bad shape with a terrorist attack on a church in Owo, incessant farmer-herder crisis, numerous kidnapping, daylight bank and highway robberies, among other security challenges.

It was at this point that Akogun Adetunji Adeleye was saddled with the responsibility of leading the AMOTEKUN Corps in order to restore sanity into the state.

Since then, the Corps Commander Adetunji Adeleye who doubles as the Chairman of Council of AMOTEKUN Corps Commanders in the Southwest (comprising Ekiti, Osun, Oyo, Ogun, and Ondo states) has done incredibly well in restoring confidence of the citizenry and peace and stability in the state.

This intervention has been hailed widely across the country as a testament to the fact that the community approach is the best way out of the many security issues around the country.

The hardworking Corps Commander had an exclusive interview with the security beats association, National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP) led by the National President, Oki Samson during the association’s visit to the state-of-the-art Corporate Headquarters of the Ondo State Security Network Agency (Amotekun) in Akure, Ondo state, for a firsthand assessment tour of the security situation in the state ahead of the November 16 governorship election.

During the interview, he disclosed how he has been able to manage the situation so much that no bank robbery was recorded in the past two years while herders and farmers are living in tolerance, among other successes.

On what he personally does as the leader of the very effective and highly praised AMOTEKUN Corps in Ondo State, he said: ‘It is 24 hours, physically I’m in the office daily for 18 hours. I picked a senatorial district to go round the metropolis. If I’m going to the North today, I go from here to Oka, Isua and return at 5 am. Tomorrow it could be South, next day it could be Central. That’s what I do, so there’s no way you will get to the AMOTEKUN post that you will not meet them there because they will not know when I will come, and they know the implications. If I meet you sleeping you go to jail, that’s why people are sleeping with their two eyes closed in Ondo state.’

Enjoy the interview in full.

It takes a man with a lion heart to achieve this much, seeing the things that AMOTEKUN Corps has done, it shows the stuff you are made of.

Paint for us how bad the problem was when you stepped in?

I want to let you know that it has not been a tea party. When we started in 2020, the security situation of Ondo State was so terrible that for those who are familiar with the terrain, an average person cannot go to the bank and get home safely. If the money is not collected on the road, they will come to your house and collect it. The situation was so bad that you cannot transact businesses by 7p.m without individuals or a group harassing you in the shop and collecting your earnings.

Kidnapping was already happening inside the taxi, town, and no farmer was going to the farm again by early 2020 for fear of being robbed and kidnapped.

Our highways had become a haven for armed robbers. When we came on board we saw the issue of food insecurity assuming the farmers and herders clashes were not addressed.

What strategies did you deploy to avert the dangers and challenges that you just mentioned?

Adetunji Adeleye: We commenced mass literacy to make farmers know their limitations as well as the herders to know their limitations. We reminded them that before now, an average Yoruba man could go to any Sabo to buy wara and leave freely but suddenly we started having issues of banditry, kidnapping and armed robberies. We met with the leadership of the herders and the farmers and told them an end had come and we did it consecutively. Farmers go to farms, herders rear your cattle, don’t destroy farms.

When we commenced enforcement, it was a terrible battle but we had to make a statement. I remember my first operation, physically, we recovered and arrested about 350 cows and you know what it takes to take only one cow from an average Fulani, he would prefer losing his child to releasing a cow, so you can imagine what we’ve gone through. We subsequently impounded their cows in thousands, made them pay restitution for the farms damaged and we tell the farmers not to take law into their hands or fight the herders, just report, so we go there, meet them, fight it out with them, arrest them and bring them to book. When the crisis was getting too much, we approached the government and the anti open-grazing law was put in place which we enforce daily.

Also, every December, there must be bank robberies, so we made a statement “end to bank robberies”. Within the first 2 years, we were able to bring it down, but there was an attempted bank robbery but I led a team to the scene and that was the end of such operation till date.

Also during festive periods, we were able to rescue hundreds of commuters that were either kidnapped or robbed between Osun and Ondo. We tagged it “Osun, Ondo border patrols for Ember months”. We did the same for Ondo and Ore, but we recorded much more success between Ife and Akure where we rescued over 500 people, recovered over 200 cars and recovered some goods.

In 2022 and 2023, we rescued kidnapped victims in their hundreds and till date, the story is better. We applaude the government for creating an enabling environment for us to work.

What other challenges did you encounter on the job?

Adetunji Adeleye: At a point, with the turnout of suspected criminals that we arrested, the state judiciary could not cope, so we had to create a court named AMOTEKUN court, and the judiciary graciously gave us judges and magistrates such that you can have quick dispensation of justice. As we speak, AMOTEKUN has secured hundreds of convictions with inmates across the correctional centers in the state.

Some say that the head of security agencies should come from their locality, majority of your officers are residents and citizens of Ondo state, what’s your take on this?

Akogun Adetunji Adeleye: It is not only in Ondo state, what we try to do is localise it. Criminal activities are localised so it’s best to design a homegrown solution to the problem. The problem in Okitipupa in Ondo state is different from the problem in Owo or Akoko. For instance, the problem we have in Akoko is that if there is going to be any kidnapping they already know the way we operate, so they will not operate beyond 2-3 kilometers of the boundary so that they can quickly run out of Ondo State and within minutes of kidnapping, they are out and they know that Amotekun cannot operate in Kogi or Kwara. The same thing happens in Ose Local Government where kidnappers operate at the boundary within minutes. They are in Edo state and Amotekun cannot operate there, so they have that latitude.

That is why we now design Amotekun rangers which are domiciled in the forest, especially the imoruijagba area which recorded daily kidnapping for two years before we came onboard.

However, there was a kidnapping attempt but seven suspects were arrested and they are in the correctional center.

How has AMOTEKUN Corps been able to use technology in their success story?

Adetunji Adeleye: There is no way we could have done it without technology. We are talking about human beings with blood in their veins and you gave me a stick to go into the forest and go and fight somebody with Ak 47 and I successfully arrested the person with Ak 47. So what do you think has transpired? AMOTEKUN is both a conventional and unconventional security network which is devoid of bureaucracy.

For instance, we have a distress call line which operates in the 18 local government areas of the state and we have been able to compress our response time from about an hour to less than five minutes.

We have a rehabilitation center where rape victims are given medical attention.

When people see AMOTEKUN officials in their uniform, what comes to mind is that they can easily disappear, can you explain this ? How have you been managing the excesses of your personnel?

Akogun Adetunji Adeleye: Let me emphasise that we are strategically placed in all the 18 local government areas, there is no place where you will tell us that there is a crisis that AMOTEKUN will not be there. I have exposed my men to all sorts of operations in the last four years and nobody can say that AMOTEKUN is charging a fee.

The consequences are grave and my operatives know this, so these are the things that give us confidence.

Our success story would not have been complete without the support of the people, they give us actionable information and these make it easier for us.

On localising solutions, 80 per cent of our personnel are mostly from Owo, Okitipupa and Akure.

We started with less than 200 and shook the entire state. Now that we are in thousands, what do you expect but it is still not enough because security architecture is different from a normal public service job. While we are not complaining, we want more.

What is your assessment of the successes of AMOTEKUN Corps in the Southwest?

Akogun Adetunji Adeleye: Amotekun in Ondo State has been able to justify the primary reason in the wisdom of the former governors who came together that they don’t want the Southwest to experience what is happening in Sambisa. That was why Amotekun came to be and because there was no template, I formulated a template for AMOTEKUN in the Southwest.

AMOTEKUN has been able to justify the reason for its establishment which is complementing the efforts of all security agencies, dotting the line and crossing the odds where bureaucracy does not allow things to work. It’s not as if most of agencies do not want to succeed but there are lots of bureaucracies in place that hinder them from doing those things, but because in AMOTEKUN, the hierarchy ends with the Governor of the state and that is it and the law is in place to back it up, especially now that the present Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa has given us enough room and latitude to operate.

I am telling you from practical experience that until we go local, we cannot solve the security problems in Nigeria. That is why I totally support the state policing idea. Look at the way it is working in Ondo State with AMOTEKUN.