Anti-Amotekun Protest in Ekiti

In the early hours of Tuesday, March 17, a coalition of Yoruba groups, under the aegis of the Yoruba Appraisal Forum protested in Ado Ekiti, the state capital against the formation of the security outfit, barely 24 hours after Governor Kayode Fayemi signed the bill for the establishment of the Amotekun Corps into law in Ekiti.

The protesting youths, drawn from the six states in the southwest region, stormed the streets of Ado-Ekiti as early as 8:15am to express displeasure against the inherent dangers in operation Amotekun.

They bore placards with various inscriptions such as ‘Amotekun will turn our youths to militia group”, ‘Amotekun motive, shine your eyes’, ‘Amotekun can bring proliferation of arms’, among others.

The group called for scrapping of Amotekun across the six states of Ekiti, Oyo, Osun, Lagos, Ondo and Ogun States to avoid future calamity, alleging the hijack of the security outfit by some politicians.

The protestors said it had uncovered alleged plot by politicians’ hell bent on deploying Amotekun for political engagement and destabilize the southwest and ultimately the entire country, in 2023 general elections.

They noted the entire Yoruba race would be endangered in 2023 with the existence of Amotekun, saying the dreadful Boko Haram tormenting the northwest started as a militia before transmorgifing into insurgents.

Addressing journalists at Ajilosun area where the protest held, the group’s coordinator, Mr. Adeshina Animasaun, said the project of Amotekun was a laudable one, but insisted that it has been hijacked by those nursing ambition in 2023.

Animasaun appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to rejig the country’s security architecture to prevent resurgence of what he called ‘militia groups’ with tendencies to pose dangers to the lives of the people.

“We call on President Buhari to use his good office to call the southwest governors to order by prevailing on them not to sign the Amotekun bills into laws yet, until proper checks about such security are done,” he said.

They faulted the hurried manners at which the governors conducted the public hearings leading to formation of Amotekun, saying: “it ought to have been done in a manner the populace will participate, rather than bringing few people to the state capitals to contribute in a programme that lasted for 30 minutes”.

He added: “The southwest governors should be dissuaded from innocently equipping and funding a security outfit that some unscrupulous and wicked individuals have planned to use against the same people the governors have sworn to protect.

“The governors should be made to realise that they should not allow themselves to be railroaded into taking an action they will regret later.

“The nation’s security agencies like police National Intelligence Agency, Defence Intelligence Agency, Department of State Services (DSS) need to profile the current promoters of Amotekun security outfit with a view to ascertaining its real membership and their original intention”, he said.

The group urged the intiators to take note of the warnings issued by Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, former Kaduna State Government, Balarabe Musa and the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and others about the hazards inherent in Amotekun.

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