A group of youths yesterday protested in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, against the formation of the Western Nigerian Security Network, codenamed Operation Amotekun.
The group, which called itself ‘Yoruba Appraisal Forum’, described Amotekun as a political tool, saying the security outfit in the region should be scrapped across the six states of Ekiti, Oyo, Osun, Lagos, Ondo and Ogun states to “avoid future calamity.”
The body claimed to have uncovered a plot by some political leaders to use Amotekun to destabilize the Southwest and ultimately the entire country in 2023.
It expressed fear that the entire Yoruba race would be endangered in 2023 with the existence of Amotekun and predicted that the network would be hijacked by politicians for “some sinister purposes” in elections.
The protesters carried placards with inscriptions like, ‘Amotekun Will Turn our Youths to Militia Group’, ‘Amotekun Motive, Shine Your Eyes’ and ‘Amotekun Can Bring Proliferation of Arms’.
Addressing newsmen in the Ajilosun area where the protest was held, the group’s coordinator, Mr Adeshina Animashaun, regarded the Amotekun project as a laudable one but insisted it has been hijacked by those he described as nursing political ambitions in 2023.
Animashaun appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to rejig the country’s security architecture to prevent “a resurgence of militia groups with tendencies to pose dangers to the lives of the people.”
He added, “The southwest governors should be dissuaded from innocently equipping and funding a security outfit that some unscrupulous and wicked individuals have planned to use against the same people the governors have sworn to protect.
“The governors should be made to realize that they should not allow themselves to be railroaded into taking an action they will regret later.”
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
