BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has insisted that self defence by Nigerians is fast presenting itself as the most appropriate way of fighting and curbing the worsening insecurity in the country.
The governor said going forward that might be the most effective method to address the challenge since the present security architecture of policing in Nigeria is not commensurate to prevailing security challenges in the country.
Governor Akeredolu, who doubles as Chairman of the Southwest Governors’ Forum, however said the views recently expressed by Governor Mattawale of Zamfara State of tackling the bandits sounds extreme.
Speaking on Channels’ Television, the Ondo State Chief Executive noted that sometimes when you are pushed to the wall, there’s nothing much you can say than reacting in an uncommon manner to voice your frustration.
Considering the consequences of governors directing their people to carry weapons for self-defence, Governor Akeredolu said doing so looks the only reasonable option left for Nigerians to fight those criminal terrorising the society.
“Our people cannot afford to lay back; we are not lazy people; we are indomitable people and we must fight these people back and whosoever has the upper hand will survive.
“We must be alert when we see strange people around us. We have put more men on the streets and patrols everywhere using Amotekun and the lesson we have learnt is we can’t afford to run away, we must face these people.
“I’ve told traditional rulers that we must get ready to defend our people and our land, we can’t fold our hands; when these people come to you, you must fight back!”, he said.
The Governor, while applauding efforts at setting up the Southwest Security Network (SWSN) – Amotekun corps, however, lamented the outfit’s limitations, saying; “Yes, we are happy with Amotekun. But, we do know its limitation, which has been caused by our perverted federalism; something is definitely wrong with the federalism we are running.
“We can’t keep running with one command of police from Abuja and think we can police this country properly. Why don’t we run state police?
“Amotekun is faced with limitations on which arms to carry and the people facing us are carrying powerful ammunition.”
Insisting that if something is not done urgently, State chief executives may be forced to arm their people, Akeredolu said: “If care is not taken, governors and other governments will be forced to get ammunitions for their people to fight back because there is no other way to fight this problem.
The Governor, who lamented that the states have been castrated and left completely powerless, said creating state police remains the answer, adding; “What we need to do is to get our priorities right and what we should prioritise as a nation today is state police and let the state police be well-armed.
“The states should spend money on their police and have a duty to defend their people. The National Assembly has a duty to take this law out of place. The police are currently overstretched! There’s no other solution but state police.”
On the Owo attack, Governor Akeredolu said the state government was yet to make headway, adding; “We are yet to make headway but we are still on their trail, we have recovered the vehicles they used and the phones and we have handed over to security personnel.”
