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  • Aiyedatiwa promises to ensure continuity of ”Amotekun” initiative

    Aiyedatiwa promises to ensure continuity of ”Amotekun” initiative

    Gov. Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State has said that the governors of the South West zone will continue to work together to ensure continuity of the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Amotekun Corps.

    Aiyedatiwa gave the assurance on Thursday after a five km walk from the Cathedral area to the Governor’s office in Akure by Amotekun Corps officers and men.

    The Amotekun commanders of the five South West states of Ekiti, Oyo, Osun, Ogun and Ondo participated in the walk to honour the late governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.

    The governor appreciated the corps for protecting lives and properties of citizens in the zone and noted that their activities over the years at protecting the people could not be over-emphasised.

    “I can assure you that Amotekun will be sustained because of its role in the society.

    “Because the security of lives and properties of the people of the south West zone is very important to us, we will use whatever is in our possession to support and sustain it,” he said.

    Aiyedatiwa, therefore, commended the Amotekun corps commanders and their men for honouring the late Akeredolu, “whose passage was a monumental loss to the state and Amotekun as a whole”.

    Responding on behalf of the commanders, Mr Adetunji Adeleye, Commander of Ondo State Security Network, noted that the late Akeredolu will continue to be remembered for his legacy.

    Adeleye, who is the Chairman of the South West Amotekun Commanders, appreciated the officers and men of the corps for their unrelenting efforts.

    “We have met all the governors and all of them have shown their solidarity to the people of Ondo State.

    “All the corps commanders travelled all the way from their various states today, that’s the essence of the 5km walk we embarked on today.

    “The good work he (Akeredolu) did, mainly in the security system in South-West, is worth mentioning.

    “We all knew what the security situation was before the creation of Amotekun, that’s about three years ago, and we are living testimony of the fact that security in the South-West has greatly improved.

    “We are resolute in continuing the good work that he started. That’s our own contribution in immortalising him as our great leader.

    “Akeredolu was resolute and sincere at making sure that Amotekun corps became a reality,” he said.
    Also, the Corps Commander from Oyo, retired Col. Olayinka Olayanju noted that the corps would continue to operate.

     

  • Amotekun arrests 3 suspects for allegedly exhuming corpses from graves in Osun

    Amotekun arrests 3 suspects for allegedly exhuming corpses from graves in Osun

    The Westen Nigeria  Security Network (code named Amotekun Corps) in Osun, has arrested three suspects in connection with exhuming corpses from graves and removing body parts for rituals.

    This is contained in a statement by  Spokesperson of the Corps in Osun, Mr Adeniyi Brown, and made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Osogbo.

    Brown said that the suspects, an automobile mechanic, 43; a driver, 56; and a native doctor, were all arrested by operatives of Amotekun in Iwo

    According to him, the suspects were apprehended following intelligence received  of their despicable acts.

    The corps spokesman said that when interrogated, the suspects made confessional statements that they exhume corpses from graves and sell the body parts for money making rituals.

  • Amotekun foils robbery attack in Osun

    Amotekun foils robbery attack in Osun

    Amotekun Corps, the southwest security outfit, foiled robbery attack on vehicles on the Akure-Ilesa Expressway on Friday and recovered a vehicle loaded with engine oil.

    Commander of the corps in Osun, retired Brig-Gen. Bashir Adewinmbi, told newsmen in Osogbo on Saturday that the robbers attacked vehicles at Ileki/Osu axis of the Ilesha-Akure Road for close to an hour.

    He said a motorist who escaped the robbers’ ambush alerted an Amotekun patrol team at about 11.46 p.m. and the latter chased the robbers away.

    “The robbers ambushed vehicles and were shooting into the air, forcing drivers to park, abandon their vehicles and run into bushes for safety.

    “When the robbers, however, saw that Amotekun patrol team was coming for them, they fled the scene after operating on the road for almost an hour,’’ he said

    Adewinmbi added that after the robbers fled, a truck loaded with diesel and petrol but abandoned by its driver, was recovered and taken to the Amotekun office in Osogbo.

    He said through the waybills found in the recovered truck, contact was made with the owner of the goods and the driver and his assistant who ran into the bush were reached.

    He said the driver explained that they were travelling from Lagos and heading to Abuja through Lokoja when they were ambushed.

    Adewinmbi said the vehicle, with the goods intact, were released to the driver on Saturday in Osogbo in the presence of police operatives from Ayeso Police Station, Ilesha, which covers the jurisdiction of the incident.

    He said police commended the Amotekun team for its efforts and sought for more collaboration to tackle rising highway robberies, especially along the Owena-Ile-Ife Expressway in Osun.

    Adewinmbi cautioned motorists, especially those conveying expensive goods or items against night journeys.

    He stressed that if they must move in the night, they should be wary about the routes they plied.

  • Amotekun arrests man for selling son to three different buyers at N1.25m

    Amotekun arrests man for selling son to three different buyers at N1.25m

    Operatives of the Western Nigeria Security Network, popularly referred to as Amotekun Corps, have arrested one Daniel Chigozie for allegedly selling his son to three different buyers in Ogun State.

    The Commandant of the Corps in the state, David Akinremi, disclosed that the Corps got intelligence that Chigozie, a 30-year-old, had sold his nine-month-old son, Daniel Chinonye Darlington, to three different buyers at different locations in Sango, Meiran and Apapa area of Lagos.

    He was said to have sold the baby for N150,000, N400,000 and N700,000 respectively to unknown buyers between August 2022 and February 2023.

    Chigozie, who resides at Abela, Sango-Ota, in the Ado-Odo Local Government Area of the state confessed to the crime.

    “The suspect in his statement confessed to the crime and he is being processed to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for a follow-up investigation to recover the child and prosecution,” Akinremi said.

    Akinremi added that findings by the corps revealed Chigozie had devised a means through which the son was retrieved from each of the buyers after each sale until he sold him to the last buyer, identified as Dr. Nosa, in Apapa.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that Amotekun Corps is a security outfit based in all six states of South Western, Nigeria, responsible for curbing insecurity in the region.

    It was founded on 9 January 2020 in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria as the first regional security outfit initiated by a geopolitical zone in Nigeria.

    Amotekun arrests man for selling son to three different buyers for N1.25m

    History
    Amotekun is a Yoruba word that means “One that looks like a leopard,” leopard being translated to “Amotekun”.

    Operation Amotekun (Leopard) was established on 9 January 2020 by the six state governors of all the South Western states of Nigeria: Lagos State, Oyo State, Ogun State, Ondo State, Osun State and Ekiti State.

    The establishment of the security outfit was subject to the decision by all the six state governors at the regional security summit held in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria in June 2019 through Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission (DAWN).

    In support of the outfit, all six state governors contributed 20 vehicles each, except Oyo that contributed 33 vehicles, in order to assist the operatives in carrying out their duties, making a total of 133 vehicles for the startup, they also procured 100 units of motorcycles each, making a total of 600 motorcycles.

    The members of the outfit were drawn from local hunters, the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Agbekoya, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the vigilante group.

  • Denying Amotekun right to bear arms exposes Southwest – Akeredolu

    Denying Amotekun right to bear arms exposes Southwest – Akeredolu

    Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has fault the Federal Government’s objection to the proposed use of arms by the Western Nigeria Security Network, Amotekun.

    He said the denial of the right of Amotekun to bear arm to protect the people of the State violated the tenents of federalism.

    Akeredolu said in a statement that equity and justice are required in Federal Government’s relationship with all the component units.

    He said:”The video making the rounds showing the equivalent of the Western Nigeria Security Network (Amotekun Corps) in Katsina, obtaining the approval of the Federal Government to bear arms is fraught with great dangers.

    “Denying Amotekun the urgently needed rights, to legitimately bear arms is a repudiation of the basis of true federalism which we have been clamoring for.

    “That Katsina was able to arm its state security force with the display of AK47 means we are pursuing one country, two systems.

    ” If the Katsina situation conferring advantages on some, in the face of commonly faced existential threats, it means that our unitary policing system, which has failed, is a deliberate method of subjugation which must be challenged.”

    Akeredolu added:”The Independence agreement was based on a democratic arrangement to have a federal state and devolved internal security mechanics.

    “We must go back to that agreement. Denying Amotekun the right to bear arms exposes the Southwest to life-threatening marauders and organized crime. It is also a deliberate destruction of our agricultural sector. It is an existential threat.

    “We want to reiterate, that what is sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander. Ondo State government under the doctrine of necessity have decided to fulfil its legal, constitutional and moral duty to the citizens of the State, by acquiring arms to protect them. This is more so, given that the bandits have an unchecked access to sophisticated weapons.

    “The State Government cannot look on while its citizens are being terrorised and murdered with impunity. We will defend our people.”

  • Amotekun operative shoots Ogun woman’s son

    Amotekun operative shoots Ogun woman’s son

    A woman, Amoke Eweje, has accused operatives of Amotekun Corps in Ogun State of shooting her son, Ayodeji Eweje.

    She said her son was also tagged a cultist by the security outfit.

    She noted that the incident happened on May 24, 2022 when her son went to watch the inauguration of the Adigbe-Panseke road by the State Governor, Dapo Abiodun.

    The victim, who has been hospitalized and receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Center, Abeokuta, told newsmen that he was never told what his offence was.

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    “I joined other onlookers at the overhead bridge at Panseke when the law enforcement officers told us to leave, I obeyed, but maybe the man thought I was not fast enough, he gripped me and handed me over to the Amotekun corps.

    “After the event, rather than letting me go, the Amotekun men took me to their office at Oke-Ilewo without telling me what my offence was.

    “What I can remember was that on a certain Sunday evening, I was told to come out and on getting out, an officer told me to climb into the roof for a certain repair of the office. While doing that, another one came and shot at me, alleging that I wanted to escape from custody.”

    The mother, who demanded justice, said she discovered that her son was with the Amotekun Corps through the police.

    “It was through the police that we were able to know that truly, Ayodeji was with the Amotekun Corps, and was taken to their Imeko-Afon office for a reason known to them. Now, they have destroyed his leg, he cannot walk again. They just abandoned him there at the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta without taking care of his hospital bills,” she lamented.

    Reacting, the Ogun State Commander of the Amotekun Corps, David Akinremi, insisted that Ayodeji and his gang had been on the wanted list of the corps for a long time, adding that he was a notorious cultist who had been tormenting the Adigbe area of Abeokuta.

    He said, “When he was apprehended at Panseke during the commissioning of Panseke Adigbe road by the governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, and handed over to us, he was taken into our custody and we began investigation into his past deeds.

    “It was during the investigation that he escaped to Imeko, where he was apprehended again. We tried to profile him again, but in the process, he wanted to escape through the ceiling of the custody he was kept in. It was then our personnel shot at his leg, and immediately we took him to hospital for treatment.”

  • Amotekun begin search as gunmen kidnap 32 persons in Ondo

    Amotekun begin search as gunmen kidnap 32 persons in Ondo

    Suspected gunmen have reportedly abducted 32 persons in Ondo State.

    According to reports, the 32 victims were returning from a burial service in Benin City, Edo State over the weekend when the incident happened.

    It was learned that the victims were waylaid by the gunmen while travelling in a Coaster bus.

    Following the development, officers of the Amotekun Corps, immediately commenced searching of the Benin-Ifon to Owo forest for the abducted persons.

    Adetunji Adeleye, Commandant of the corps in the state, confirmed the incident and said that the command would do all possible to rescue the victims.

    In order to release the victims, the Amotekun Corps, and other security agencies, according to Adeleye, had been informed and had since started a search and rescue operation.

  • Amotekun to recruit more personnel in Osun – Commander

    Amotekun to recruit more personnel in Osun – Commander

    Retired Brig.-Gen. Bashir Adewimbi, the Commander of Osun Security Network Agency,  ‘Amotekun Corps’, said more operatives would be recruited to strengthen security and flush out bandits hiding in forests.

    Adewimbi made this known in an interview with NAN, on Saturday in Ede, stating that they had credible intelligence that bandits and criminals were hiding in the forests.

    “The banditry and terrorism we are experiencing in our region now is the spillover effect of what is happening around the country.

    “We have credible intelligence that bandits are all in our forests and we are strategising to comb the forests and make sure we drive them away or arrest them,” he said

    The commander said,”the operatives of the corps are determined to go into the forests flush out these criminals using the forests as their hideout.

    “The governor has approved the recruitment of more operatives who are competent.

    “We will not be recruiting or engaging those who are just looking for work but people that are bold and courageous that will go into the forest to confront and combat criminals hiding in the forests.

    “We are going to recruit courageous hunters that goes into the forest to hunt for weeks and months.

    ”The people we are looking for, we want now, are people that can combat the problem on ground.”

    He said presently, the corps only have 360 operatives, deployed to all the 30 local government areas, and a local council area, in the state, stating that there was serious need to recruit more men.

    Adewimbi said, ”Although the state Amotekun corps gathers intelligence and works with existing security agencies to enhance community policing, their restriction to carry firearms limits their crime fighting operations.

    “Basically, we provide information and confront criminals where there is need for it, even though we are not adequately armed.

    “In the process of our recruitment we factored in the fact that we are not allowed to carry arms /guns but we are working on obtaining licenced guns.

    Speaking on how to improve security in the state, Adewimbi called on the residents to always monitor their environments and not to harbour criminals.

    He said, ”government alone cannot provide all the funds and equipment needed by Amotekun for its operations.

    ”We are therefore appealing to well meaning people of the state to come to our aid, while we are appreciating those already assisting the corps.”

  • Intercepted northerners are farmers, traders – Oyo Police

    Intercepted northerners are farmers, traders – Oyo Police

    The Oyo State Police Command has said the 147 northern passengers intercepted by Amotekun in Ibadan on Tuesday were farmers and traders and that it has handed them over to security operatives in Ogun State.

    This is contained in a statement by the state Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso on Wednesday.

    The statement said the passengers who are aged between 12 and 30 years were profiled by police, Department of State Services; Nigeria Security and Civil Defence and Amotekun before being handed over.

    The passengers, who he said were travelling from Zamfara State to Ogun State in a truck, were found to be nothing other than farmers and traders.

    He added that items found on board the truck included motorcycles, bags of beans and onions.

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    “At about 1500hrs on Tuesday August 2, a Blue Iveco truck with reg No. BWR 143XD, driven by one Abdulahi Aliu ‘m’ age 30 years and conveying about 147passengers comprising 140 male passengers between 12-30 years, four adult female passengers and three female children were intercepted along Iyana Bodija-Iso Pako, Ibadan by members of the public.

    “Preliminary investigations revealed that the truck and its passengers who are predominantly farmers and traders were heading to Ogere, Ogun State from Kaura Namuda, Zamfara State.

    “Subsequent upon the above, the Blue truck was thoroughly searched and its passengers profiled by a combined team of the police, men of the Department of State Services and Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun to eliminate possibilities of ferrying escapees from any recorded jailbreaks within the country.

    “The search revealed that the truck was conveying eight motorcycles and bags of beans and onions to be dropped off with their owners at Bodija Market.

    “Upon the conclusion of the process, the truck and its passengers were escorted out of the state and have since been handed over and received by security operatives in Ogun State.”

  • We arrested 140 Northerners in truck because they’re moving in large number – Amotekun

    We arrested 140 Northerners in truck because they’re moving in large number – Amotekun

    The Commandant of Amotekun in Oyo State, Colonel Olayinka Adeyanju (Rtd) has said the 140 Northerners that were arrested in Ibadan on Tuesday were stopped and taken in for questioning because they were moving in large numbers.

    He stated this while answering to questions by journalists who wanted to know why the northerners were being questioned.

    There were apprehension and rumours within Ibadan and many parts of Oyo State since 4pm on Tuesday after words went round about the arrest of the northerners with some persons saying the travelers were terrorists or members of the dreaded Boko Haram.

    Adeyanju said, “We did not arrest Boko Haram members or criminals. Those we arrested are here. Policemen are here, DSS operatives are here and the NSCDC men are also here.

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    “They are profiling them as I talk to you. We saw them in a truck and moving such huge number of people is suspicious and that was why we stopped them and brought them here.

    “We arrested them and we invited other security agencies to come and profile them.

    “With that, they will know if there is any of those who escaped from jail among them. They will find out their mission and where they are going to. They will be released if they are found to be law-abiding citizens.”

    Operatives of Amotekun Corps in Oyo State had intercepted the conveying the mostly youth travelersfrom the North travelling to Ogun State.

    It was gathered that the vehicle was conveying the packed passengers from Zamfara State which is one of the hotbeds of Bandits and terrorists in the North.

    TheNewsGuru further learnt that the truck, which was heading to Ogere in Ogun State was stopped at around University of Ibadan-Bodija Road.

    Some of the occupants of the truck were said to have jumped off and fled immediately they sighted the security men.