Following the backlash that trailed the operations of the Western States Security Network, otherwise known as Amotekun, the leadership of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), has given a 72-hour ultimatum to the Oyo State government to set up machinery for the reorientation of operatives of the corps.
The ultimatum was on the heels of a series of alleged misdeeds of some operatives of the corps since its inauguration by Governor Seyi Makinde in the State.
The students’ body issued the warning in a statement jointly signed by the association’s chairman in the state, Comrade Oluwafunmbi Mayowa Opakunle; General Secretary, Comrade Ojetola Babatunde; Public Relations Officer, Comrade Adeleke Quadri and made available to newsmen yesterday.
It stated that the Amotekun corps had over the time shown that they needed additional orientation on modern security approaches and their relationship with the masses, for proper cohabitation and navigation of their duties as they will be needing necessary stakeholders in fishing out the criminal elements amidst the population.
The statement added that this was the best way to overcome the security threats posed by bandits and other criminal elements and to avoid unnecessary victimization of the people.
The association urged the State government, which houses the axis of the NAN Students, to see to the perpetrators of these reported crimes, saying “or else the supposed security of the State will only be a charade of the intended, but all have been futile and no positive response whatsoever, rather, it has aggravated and just again the Amotekun Corps have victimized the Public Relations Officer of the NANS Oyo State JCC, with so many other cases of innocent students being victimized across all areas of the state”.
“We are giving the Oyo State Government a 72-hour ultimatum, from Monday, to attend to these issues or await a more active response from the association; which implies that there will be confrontations in our own ways by Thursday, January 14, 2021, if the state government remains indifferent as posed to us,” the statement warned.
