By Olusegun Olanrewaju
A year after its inauguration, opinion is divided as to whether Amotekun and indeed other layers of security and vigilance services are effectively curtailing insecurity in the South-West. This is because of rising reports of acts of criminality and brigandage in the zone in general, and Lagos in particular, in recent times.

In a phone chat, National Publicity Secretary of pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, gave a qualified reaction when asked to appraise the security situation in the South-West, especially the contribution of Amotekun. Though he lauded the outfit for its activities in the South-West, Odumakin berated the position of ‘some people’ who never believed that the outfit was necessary in the first place.

Also, prominent lawyer and Yoruba leader, Chief Ladi Williams, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told the reporter, “Yes, they (Amotekun) and others have tried, especially in the villages.”

An analyst, Rasheed Adebiyi, clamoured for more independence for the security outfit before it can achieve its aim of effectively securing the region. But a youth group has advised the governors in the South-West to take a more radical approach to the issue of insecurity in the zone.

The group, Yoruba Professionals Foundation (YPF) warned the South-West governors “to prioritize jobs or watch insecurity get out of control.”

In a statement by the group’s president, Maxwell Adeleye and director of research and strategy, Olawale Kadri, the YPF lamented the rate of unemployment, which it called “a major problem in Yoruba land”.
“A trillion naira budgetary allocation to Amotekun, Police and Army cannot quench insecurity where youth unemployment reigns supreme”, the YPF noted.

The group said security challenges in the region posed a great threat to development and foreign direct investments. The Director-General, Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN),Seye Oyeleye, has acknowledged the growing security risk in the South-West, with reference to ‘nightmares’ on Lagos highways, farms (in other areas) and ‘dealing with people’ (generally).

In a recent interview with a national daily, he said, “We didn’t get here (insecurity) overnight…Look at the recent incident in the South-West. The moment we surrender our highways to criminality, our way of life is totally destroyed. There are challenges in the South-West. Our police must also live up to expectation”.

Oyeleye listed some of the pressing challenges facing the region as loss of investment, food insecurity, ‘criminalised highways’, youth unemployment and lack of state policing, among others.

‘More needs to be done’
In many instances, the collective response of the Amotekun, vigilance operatives and the regular police have proven very inadequate. Cases of instability, criminality and uprising which is disturbing the sleep in recent times have been demonstrated with the arson, murder and destruction of property recorded in Oyo State, where Amotekun took its birth on January 9, 2020. Recall the cases in Aba Abugudu and Shasha markets in Atisbo and Akinyele local government areas where people were killed and even, in an instance, the federal government had to intervene by way of providing palliatives, to cushion the pain of mayhem.

Speaking on the Aba Abugudu market incident which reportedly claimed three lives, the Commandant of Amotekun Corps in Oyo State, Col. Olayinka Olayanju (retd) gave a worrisome and insightful response. He said, “The police were said to have recovered two corpses, but I don’t know who was killed. The police are in a better position to know”.

In Shasha, the very bloody perennial conflict between Hausa and Yoruba traders was said to have been triggered by a foreigner.

“From time to time, there have been skirmishes over the control of parts of the market. Some years ago, there was a minor crisis over collection of fees in the market. While the Yoruba control parts of the market, their visitors agitate for a part…”

The initiative
When on November 8, 2019, the chairman of the South-West Governors’ Forum and governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, disclosed that plans were under way to launch a security/vigilance outfit tagged ‘Operation Amotekun’ in the South-West zone, the move was widely greeted with controversy.

It was believed that the outfit would only succeed in curbing the security challenges facing the South-West, which at the time, according to a commentator, ‘was at its lowest ebb’, with proper grounding.

Rasheed Adebiyi, a strategic/applied communication teacher at the Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State, said the introduction of the outfit became necessary because of “stories of killing, wailing and loss (which) rented the air and was almost making the South-West roads the next most dangerous after the Boko Haram ravaged the North-Eastern Nigeria.’’

But there is a current debate as to whether security in the South-West, particularly in Lagos, have been effective, especially with the rolling out of the Amotekun.

‘Independence for vigilance’
At formation, Adebiyi noted that there were ‘serious concerns’ by stakeholders on the ‘strategic issues’ that could make or mar the formation of a security network built on ‘’local intelligence involving the different security personnel of the Police, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and local militias.’’

He said there was an argument in some quarters about the modalities for the operation of another vigilance outfit in a region that arguably had an ‘abundance’ of local security groups such as Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC), the Agbekoya and different layers of local enforcement groups. Amotekun has come to stay, the people say, but there are fears in some quarters as to whether the people of the South-West, especially Lagos, are sleeping with their eyes closed yet, or whether the outfit has been so effective.

A leopard and its bite
‘Operation Amotekun’ (Leopard), is a security outfit based in all the six states of the South-West, with its capital at Gbongan, in Osun State. Its mandate includes responsibility for curbing insecurity in the region. The campaign started on January 9, 2020 in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Amotekun is the first regional security outfit initiated by a geopolitical zone in the country.

According to security experts, it was clear from the outset that before the goal of effective security could be achieved in the South-West, there had to be a synergy among the new security outfit, other established forces, and local vigilance groups in the region. It was argued that the modus operandi of the outfit should be clearly spelt out and the roles of the different composition should be complementary.

Operation
The operatives of the Amotekun are to assist police, other security agencies and traditional rulers in combating terrorism, banditry, armed robbery, kidnapping as well as helping in settling volatile herdsmen and farmers contentions in the region. For the start-up, Lagos, Osun and Ekiti states, recruited 1,320 operatives for the operation, who would only carry locally made guns like hunters, operating in about 52 deadly black spots all over the region. That may now look like past history.

Challenges
While the governors and others have been lauding the ‘achievements’ of the security forces and Amotekun in the South-West, however, many believe that certain drawbacks have been complicating security issues in the region. These include corruption (arising from alleged commercialisation due to collection of tolls), poor communication channels, as well as poor local intelligence and lack of ‘technology’.

The way out
According to a security expert, the security outfit has to blend indigenous intelligence with advanced crime fighting technology.

The expert who craved anonymity said, “An analysis of kidnapping victims’ narration of their ordeal reveals that the perpetrators understand the terrain very well. So, it requires an equal understanding on the part of those who are commissioned to secure the people.

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”The use of drones and other modern crime detection and fighting tools should be deployed. This is not to discountenance the usefulness of the local intelligence. What would put an end or minimize the menace of these crimes is a combination of these two.

”Security of life and property, as important as it is, requires the cooperation of those to be secured. To have people buy in, the Amotekun outfit needs strategic communication.’’

On how well to end the security challenge facing the South-West, a prominent Yoruba leader responded via a text message over the weekend: ‘’More equipped police patrol. This is the short answer.”