• Seeks Elevation Of Amotekun To State Police
A group, Ondo Citizens for Good Governance, has emphasised that creating a new federal outfit such as the proposed Forest Guards would be counterproductive against the call for the decentralisation of the policing architecture of the country.
According to the group, the government should instead consider elevating and institutionalising the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN), otherwise known as the Amotekun Corps, as the foundation for state police and abandon plans for the proposed Forest Guards.
The Coordinator of the group, Olawumi Adegbola, in a statement issued in Akure, on Friday, urged governments, at all levels, to elevate the Amotekun Corps into a full-fledged state police structure, emphasising that such a step would significantly strengthen the fight against crimes and criminality across the region.
Adegbola said rather than establishing new forest guards, which may result in duplication of roles and strained security resources, it would be more effective to professionalise Amotekun.
He said, “State police is the most practical and urgent solution to the growing menace of banditry and kidnappings in Nigeria.
The current security arrangement, which is largely centralised, has repeatedly proven incapable of providing timely and effective responses to these criminal activities, especially in the remote and forested areas where bandits have found safe havens.
“With properly structured and empowered state police formations like the Amotekun Corps, states would be better equipped to carry out aggressive, localised security operations aimed at flushing out criminal elements from their hideouts.
“Local policing units possess superior knowledge of the geography, culture, and movement patterns within their territories, which gives them a decisive edge in intelligence gathering and rapid deployment.”
While allaying the fear that state police could be abused by political leaders, the group stated that such a situation could be mitigated through proper legislative frameworks, oversight mechanisms, and community accountability.
“Since its inception, the Amotekun Corps has proven to be a crucial line of defence in the battle against banditry, kidnapping, and other violent crimes festering within our communities and forests.
“Their familiarity with the local environment, their cultural alignment with the people, and their deep understanding of the geographical and historical intricacies of the region have positioned them uniquely to combat crime in ways that external forces simply cannot replicate. It is therefore imperative that Amotekun and other state security outfits be given full institutional backing for them to metamorphose into a formalised state police structure.
“The recent proposal to create forest guards, supposedly to protect our forests, raises critical questions. Why create a parallel security outfit comprised of individuals who neither understand the people nor the territory they are meant to safeguard? These Forest Guards, in many cases, would be strangers to the nuances of the local environment, oblivious to the history, cultural heritage, and unique landmarks that are second nature to the indigenous Amotekun officers.
“If Amotekun has been effectively securing our forests, why introduce another layer of bureaucracy that may complicate rather than complement existing efforts? Worse still, these newly created forest guards may eventually be controlled by distant federal appointees who lack native intelligence and historical context – people who would require extensive briefings before each intervention and whose interests may not align with the security needs of the local population.”
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