…We’ll resist move to hijack outfit —Agbekoya

By Dapo Akinrefon & Rotimi Ojomoyela

A group, under the auspices of Yoruba Appraisal Forum, yesterday, protested in Ado Ekiti, against the formation of the Western Nigerian Security Network codenamed operation  Amotekun.

The protesting youths called for the scrapping of the outfit in the South West to avoid future calamity.

The group said they discovered an alleged plot to use Amotekun to destabilize the southwest and the entire country in 2023.

Some of the placards they displayed read: ‘Amotekun Will Turn Our Youths to Militia Group’, ‘Amotekun Motive, Shine Your Eyes’, ‘Amotekun Can Bring Proliferation of Arms’, among others.

Addressing journalists at Ajilosun area where the protest was 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 said: “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.

We’ll resist attempt to hijack Amotekun —Agbekoya

Meanwhile, the Agbekoya Farmers Association, yesterday, vowed to resist moves by politicians in the South West to hijack and politicize the Western Nigerian Security Network codenamed operation Amotekun.

In a statement by its National President, Aare Okikiola Aremu, and its Publicity Secretary, Chief Olatunji Bandele, the group warned politicians not to use Amotekun as an instrument of politics or a political weapon to oppress their opponents.

The statement reads: “We are using this medium to warn politicians, who may want to undermine the good intention of the Southwest Governors by politicizing Operation Amotekun or want to use it as a political weapon to oppress the masses or their opponents to have a rethink.

“Agbekoya, as a group, is ready to protect the interest of farmers and Yoruba race in general. We have been having several meetings with different associations and interest groups in order to curtail the activities of armed bandits, armed Fulani herders and kidnappers in Southwest.”

Vanguard