No fewer than 7,000 criminals across the 18 local government areas of Ondo State have been arrested by the Western Security Network Agency codenamed Amotekun within the last three and half years of its creation.
The corps has also reduced farmers/herders clashes by over 95 percent in the last two years in the state.
Speaking with journalists in Akure, the state capital during an interactive session organised by the state Correspondent Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), tagged: “The Platform”, the Commander of the corps, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, said the corps charged suspected criminals to court and it has secured judgement of many of them.
Adeleye who doubles as the Special Adviser (Security Matters) to the state governor, informed that the birth of the Amotekun Corps in the state has made the state adjudged one of the most peaceful states in the country.
His words: “With the support the support sister security agencies, particularly, the DSS has often assisted us in getting the requisite geo-location of kidnap victims and suspects. All these coupled with our local intellect and unconventional methods had assisted us in arresting to date, well over 7,000 suspected criminals out of which 1,500 of them have been charged to court.
“We’ve even secured a judgment of very many of them. At a time when the turnout of criminals was becoming unmanageable for the judiciary, the government of Oluwarotimi Akeredolu graciously approved the building of two courts to assist the judiciary in the prompt dispensation of justice.”
“We are all living witnesses to the fact that today, Ondo State ranks as one of the safest state in this country.
“What we have right now in Ondo State is pockets of violence in border areas and in response to this, the government has directed, which we’ve implemented some of them now, putting in place, offices and control points in Imoru, Ijagba axis to take care of kidnapping and violence around Ose local government while Jugbere is to take care of the Akoko North.
“We are proposing three other strategic ones, such that by the end of the year, all our porous border villages and towns will be adequately covered by the activities of the corps.”
The corps commander, however, disclosed that the major challenge confronting the agency is inadequate equipment to match what the miscreants and criminals confronting them with.
“Amotekun, very adequately, works with other security agencies in the state. The synergy encompasses operational, strategy, and intelligence gathering at the grassroots level and I must tell you that it has been yielding great results.
“Some of the challenges we face, as a result of inadequate equipment has caused very precious lives of some of our men. And we remain determined as we pledged to sacrifice”, he stated.