By Ayodele Oni
Ondo State Governor, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has declared that the Western Nigeria Security Network Agency codenamed Amotekun Corps, is effectively filling the vacuum created by the overstretched conventional security agencies, particularly the Police in the State.
Governor Akeredolu noted that Amotekun Corps is a product of circumstance which was essentially created to fill the obvious security gap in the state for the security of all.
The Governor added that Amotekun’s efforts with the help of other security agencies have brought relative peace to the State.
He spoke while playing host to the participants of Course 30 of the National Defence College (NDC), Abuja, led by the Commandant, Rear Admiral Oladele Daji.
Governor Akeredolu, who particularly commended the Military for ensuring the peace and security in the country, equally disclosed that his administration has enjoyed necessary support and cooperation from all Heads of Security Agencies in the state including Army, the Police, the NSCDC, the DSS, the NIA and others.
“So, we must make sure we tackle it. You kidnap to the extent that you killed a first class monarch; this is very bad.
“As a Government, we owe it a duty to secure the lives and property of our people.”
The Governor insisted that no genuine herders would graze his herds of cow with AK-47, just as he said any herder who destroys any farmland in the state would be made to pay compensation to the affected farmer.
According to him, Amotekun Corps is now engaged in road patrol to further ensure the security of lives and property of residents in the state.
Governor Akeredolu also said many States in the country have signed Anti-Open Grazing laws to protect the people and their means of livelihood, just as he insisted that the issue of grazing routes would not work in the country because the country could no longer continue to live in the past.
He stressed that the country needed a multi-leveled policing with special attention to state police to effectively secure the lives and property of the citizens.
Earlier, the Commandant, National Defence College, Abuja, Rear Admiral Oladele Daji, who lauded the Governor for his security and industrial strides recorded so far, expressed confidence that the products of the participants’ research would go a long way to assist in policy inputs towards delivery of good governance and ensure security of the the state.
He, particularly, applauded the Governor for the way he handed the issue of farmers/herders clashes in the State to ensure peaceful coexistence between farmers and the Herders.
