The pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere and Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), yesterday, threw their weight behind the position of the South-West governors that the Western Nigeria Security Network, code-named Amotekun Corps, would not be controlled by any Federal Government agency.

They urged the Federal Government to perish the thought of subsuming the South-West security outfit under the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

Secretary-General of YCE, Dr. Kunle Olajide, who spoke in Ado-Ekiti during a telephone chat with The Guardian, said that the authority of Amotekun begins and ends at the various states that make up the South-West.

Olajide said that the Amotekun could collaborate with the community police if the intention of the police is noble, noting that the Yoruba security outfit will not take instruction from the Inspector-General of Police.
ALSO, the Afenifere, through its Spokesperson, Yinka Odumakin, said states were constitutionally empowered to protect their citizens and that the Amotekun Corps had come to stay.

Odumakin said: “We support them because their position is nothing new. In a federal arrangement, states can make laws. The law on Amotekun was actually made by the states concerned and the Federal Government has failed in its duty.

“So, we support their position that Amotekun should not be subsumed under any agency of the Federal Government.”
MEANWHILE, Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, has declared that the security of lives and property in the state remains extremely important to his government.

The governor, who stated this while addressing chairpersons of the 68 local councils and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state at a meeting in Ibadan, said that the Oyo State Security Network, code-named Operation Amotekun, had come to stay in the state, adding that the outfit will not be under the control of the federal establishments but the state to enable it to achieve meaningful development in an atmosphere of insecurity.

“We want our people to sleep with their two eyes closed. Of course, security is one of the pillars of this administration and we must do everything possible to invest in the security of lives and property,” he said.

Besides, a statement by Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, also indicated that the governor gave marching orders to the caretaker committee chairmen to immediately go back to their domains to set up committees with a view to tackling the security challenges in their localities.

He maintained that the state government would provide all enablement for them to succeed in the task.

Makinde commended some of the local council chairpersons, whom he noted, had been doing their best despite the limited resources while urging them to sit up and link up with the party men and women as well as residents of their localities ahead of the local council election.

He further charged the local council chairmen to take responsibility for government assets in their domains, noting that it has become imperative to move away from the mentality that public assets are no one’s property.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matter, Chief Bayo Lawal, charged the chairmen to be good ambassadors in their areas.