Following the rising insecurity across the country, the Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, has asked the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun to unseal Amotekun offices in the state to enable the outfit to resume operations.
In a statement signed on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Olawale Rasheed, the governor, Adeleke said the continued shutdown of Amotekun had weakened Osun’s security architecture and exposed rural and border communities to threats, especially with increasing cases of banditry and kidnapping in neighbouring Kwara state.
The governor said Osun is currently “handicapped in its security response” because Amotekun offices remain sealed, while some senior officers of the corps have been detained without trial for several months.
He said Amotekun had developed specialised expertise in tackling security challenges in rural and border areas, adding that the absence of the outfit had created a vacuum now being exploited by criminal elements.
Adeleke urged the IGP to either charge the detained Amotekun operatives over the alleged killings in the Akinlalu community to court or release them, while also demanding the immediate unsealing of the corps’ offices.
According to the governor, any further delay could endanger rural populations and increase the risk of criminal infiltration into the state.
“I call on the inspector-general of police to unseal Amotekun and allow its operatives to secure my people across the grassroots,” the statement reads.
“Those officers in detention should be charged to court after several months of incarceration. Any further delay in the unsealing of Amotekun will further jeopardise the safety and security of our people.” .
