Alao-Akala: Amotekun won’t succeed anywhere outside Lagos

May 27, 2020 5:28 pm

Adebayo Alao-Akala, former governor of Oyo, says Amotekun, a joint security outfit, will fail in south-west except in Lagos.

South-west governors had launched Amotekun on January 9, as a regional security initiative, but the initiative later became a state effort after meetings with the federal government.

Speaking on his memoirs titled: “Amazing Grace” which is scheduled for launch in June, as part of activities for his 70th birthday, the ex-governor said the security outfit will fail over leadership challenge.

He faulted the decision of the governors to appoint retired military officers as director-generals of the corps.

Alao-Akala, a former assistant commissioner of police, said police officers would have been a better option to occupy the position.

He said while a soldier is trained to lead wars, a police officer has better knowledge of internal security, which Amotekun is more concerned about.

“The Amotekun Corp will fail in the South-West states except for Lagos. The outfit is supposed to take care of the security of the people and their property across the zone but it will fail in every state except Lagos because the right people were not appointed to head it,” he said.

“You cannot expect a soldier to head Amotekun successfully. A police officer is trained specially on internal security management. If fundamentally the foundation is weak whatever you want to put on it would be weak. When you have a soldier there, he is taught how to kill. The governors don’t get it right by appointing ex-military men to head the outfits in the other states.

“If a retired senior police officer was appointed as the head of the Amotekun outfit in a state, the Commissioner of Police in the state would respect him as his former superior. A retired Army officer would want to be forceful in his approach. Remember that only the police can prosecute criminals, Amotekun cannot, so they need the cooperation of the police.

“The Amotekun personnel are not armed; they will be successful if they collaborate with the police by calling for support while trying to burst crimes in their respective states and localities.”

Like south-west, some other regions have established joint security outfits to tackle internal security challenges in the zones.