•Amotekun
Fresh facts have emerged as to why the Inspector General of Police (IGP) team sealed the operational base and Ife Central Office of the Amotekun outfit in Osun State following the killing and maiming of residents of Akinlalu community in Ife North Local Government Area.
It will be recalled that Amotekun operatives invaded Akinlalu Market Square, killing three members of the same family and hacking one other to death, while several others sustained gunshot injuries.
The Amotekun Commandant, Isaac Omoyele, later claimed he escaped an assassination attempt; a claim the police have dismissed, reports The Nation.
Subsequently, the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the IGP arrested 25 Amotekun corps on Wednesday night. It sealed their operational-amoury base at Oke-Fia, Osogbo, including the outfit’s Ife Central Office.
At the weekend, our correspondent joined the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IGP-IRT) led by SP Rotimi Ogunmuyiwa and accompanied by Deputy Commissioner of CID, Bayonle Suliaman, to storm the Amotekun Headquarters to inspect the facilities of the outfit located at Powerline area of Osogbo.
Omoyele was not in the office, but the Chairman of the Amotekun Board, Wale Abbas, welcomed the team.
The team said they were aware that Amotekun leadership had created several departments like Anti-cultism, Narcotics, kidnapping and homicide, among other units, for which they appointed heads. They demanded that the heads of these units created by Amotekun leaders should report to the Osun State Police Command.
During the inspection, the team discovered five cells and other underground cells used by the Amotekun Corps to keep the suspects they arrest. The cells were generally not well kept while one of them has a dwarf entrance with iron bars.
The IGP-IRT team discovered four detainees in the cells of Amotekun who had spent more than six weeks in detention.
One of the detainees said: “They are demanding N150,000 bail from me for selling Indian hemp.”
The IGP team directed that the suspect should be handed over to the nearest police divisional headquarters, adding that it is unlawful to detain those suspects for more than 24 hours.
Following the sealing off of the Amotekun base by the police, the Osun State House of Assembly, through its Speaker, Adewale Egbedun, kicked against the move, asserting that the outfit was validly established by a law enacted by the Assembly with a clear mandate of complementing the efforts of conventional security agencies in combating kidnapping, banditry, and other violent crimes in the state.
Addressing newsmen yesterday at the Assembly complex, he said: “It is deeply troubling and constitutionally offensive that an agency created by law and funded by the Osun State Government could be summarily shut down without due process, consultation with the State Government or the House of Assembly which enacted its enabling legislation. At a time when security concerns are escalating in neighbouring states, this is a moment when the Amotekun Corps should be fully operational and reinforced, not sealed.
“It should be noted that if any breach of security occurs in Osun State as a result of the Amotekun Corps offices being sealed, the Nigeria Police Force and relevant security agencies will be held accountable. The safety of our people cannot be compromised due to avoidable administrative or political actions.
“The House is equally disturbed by credible reports linking this action to political interference allegedly instigated by Senator Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi in collaboration with former Governor Gboyega Oyetola.
“If proven true, such actions constitute a reckless abuse of political influence and a gross betrayal of the people of Osun State, whose safety and security must never be reduced to a political manoeuvre.”
However, Senator Francis Fadahunsi, representing Osun East District, reacting to the allegations, berated the Assembly, saying “Amotekun office has become the home of murderers, not protecting the community. The Amotekun officers are disturbing the peace of the state.”
Fadahunsi said: “I am the Senator of Ife/Ijesa senatorial district, and this is not about the APC or PDP. From February to date, I have lost 12 people to Amotekun’s killings.
“I don’t know if Governor Oyetola is involved. He is the leader of the APC. But as for me, I was the one who invited the police, as I can’t continue to let them kill my people.
“During the crisis that occurred at the local government election, I lost four people. Many are still roaming about with bullets in their body. Nobody has been arrested.
“There was another case of shooting in Esa-Oke caused by the governor and the Commissioner of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. After causing trouble for Ijesa South and Ijesa North, they now went to Ife to kill people in Akinlalu.
“Do they expect me to keep quiet as the Senator representing the district? I will not keep quiet. They would not kill a single goat in my area again. If they send them to go and destabilise my own Senatorial District, I will not allow it.”
Meanwhile, Osun Civil Societies Coalition has demanded justice for the victims of Amotekun killings in the state, blaming the Police and Department of State Services (DSS) for failing to stop killings and brutality by the outfit.
The CSOs through its Chairman, Comrade Waheed Lawal, in a statement yesterday demanded immediate suspension of Amotekun operations in the state, prosecution of all those involved in the killings, in accordance with Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution, establishment of a Judicial Panel of Inquiry under the Tribunals of Inquiry Law, Cap 138, Laws of Osun State 2002 and adequate compensation for families of the deceased and victims of the attack.
However, Governor Ademola Adeleke, in a release by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, commended the IGP over the ongoing investigation of Amotekun killings in Akinlalu, calling for the observance of the rule of law in the process.
Amid the development, Akinlalu, through its spokesperson, Olamide Babarinde, raised the alarm that some aggrieved members of Amotekun Corps were still threatening to invade the community again if they continue to demand justice for slain residents.
