Oyo State Commandant of Amotekun Security Outfit, Retired Col. Olayinka Olayanju, has assured that the people of the state would soon begin to feel the operation of the outfit, saying the much-expected face of Amotekun would be rolled out any moment from now.
Olayanju stated this in Ibadan, while fielding questions from the newsmen after Amotekun Stakeholders Forum held at the Western Hall of Oyo State Government Secretariat.
At the forum, with the theme “Employing Technology For Adequate Crime Protection in Oyo State”, attended by Retired Gen. Kunle Togun, Chairman of the outfit, and various groups in the state, the commandant said, “Amotekun has commenced. When you are saying security, there are certain aspects of security that you will see which is the showmanship, but the actual security you don’t see them. But for the uniform, the face of Amotekun, very soon we will roll it out. We don’t want to do anything that anybody will come around to abuse us. If you don’t do due diligence in your approach, you are likely to nail yourself, to be blackmailed, and we don’t want that”.
Pointing out that the security outfit would partner with the existing security agencies in the state including Operation Burst, Olayanju noted, “Amotekun is to partner all the security agencies and help to ensure that there is effective and efficient security. As for now, the face of security in Oyo State is the police and we, when we finally roll out, what we are trying to do is to partner, support and collaborate with them. We are not coming as an independent body, but to work in synergy with all security agencies”.
He assured the people of the state that the security outfit would not be a dumping ground or job for the boys, saying they would ensure transparency and proper screening.
The retired soldier also assured that he would ensure that officers of the security outfit were well groomed adding, “I can assure you that once it rolls out, you will see clearly that this is a transparent thing. It is not going to be job for the boys or a dumping ground”.
Olayanju, who described Amotekun as a community-oriented agency, said that matter of security is a collective responsibility of all and sundry. “This is the reason why we bring various groups like Agbekoya, traders union, market women, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) to this forum so that we can obtain their views”.
