The South-West governors will on January 7, inaugurate Operation Amotekun, a security strategy meant to combat killings and kidnapping in the zone.
The Ekiti State Commissioner for Information, Mr Muyiwa Olumilua, who said this in an interview with one of our correspondents on Wednesday, said vehicles and equipment for the security outfit were ready.
He stated that the inauguration was delayed by the need for all the states to be adequately ready in terms of meeting the requirements.
The governors had, in September, after a meeting in Akure, said they would set up Operation Amotekun, following serial killings and kidnapping in the zone by Fulani herdsmen.
In June, gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen, killed Funke Olakunri, a daughter of the Afenifere leader, Reuben Fasoranti, on the Ondo-Ore road.
There were cases of kidnapping, including the abduction of a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Prof. Olayinka Adegbehingbe, in May, at the Ikoyi/Apomu junction of the Ibadan-Ife Expressway in Ikire, a border town between Osun and Oyo states.
Also, a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and four others were kidnapped at the Ogbere area of Ogun State in August.
Leaders of some ethnic groups in Yorubaland like the Oodua Peoples Congress and Agbekoya, had, in November, said they were awaiting South-West governors to request personnel from them for the joint security outfit .
The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Chief Gani Adams, had, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH on November 10, said, “The present stage is that the group is awaiting the response of the governors so that we can know the number of security personnel needed.”
But three months after the governors said they would start the operation, the security outfit had yet to be inaugurated despite the worsening security situation in the zone.
For instance, members of the Orin-Ekiti community in the Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State recently lamented that the invading herdsmen had vandalised farms worth N50m owned by 70 farmers in the area.
The Ekiti State Commissioner for Information, Olumilua, in the interview said, “Everything is set now. On the 7th of January, it (Operation Amotekun) will be launched obviously. All the states have to be on the same page. They were trying to be sure that all requirements were in place.
“Right now, all the states are ready with their requirements. All the states are set for January. It is not a matter of contribution of money. It is about equipment, vehicles and other things like that.
“As far back as the past two months, Ekiti has bought its vehicles – 20 pick-up trucks – for the purpose. Remember, the vehicles must have communication equipment. All those ones are ready for the launch.”
Olumilua said the state government had strengthened the security architecture in the state to state.
It will be recalled that each of the six states are expected to donate 20 pick -up trucks fixed with communication gadgets to ensure a smooth takeoff of the outfit.
