A Lagos-based security expert, Dr Goodluck Uguoji has hailed the idea of the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun, collaborating with regular security agencies to tackle insecurity in the Southwest geo-political zone.
Uguoji who made the remark while speaking with reporters recently added that the initiative adopted by state governments in the Southwest in response to the current awakening over insecurity in the region is timely and correct, but not enough.
He said before terrorists make strategic attacks like the one that took place in Owo, Ondo State on that fateful Sunday morning recently they usually arrive at the scene of the crime days in advance to familiarize themselves with the environment. He said it is therefore imperative for all the security agencies, including local vigilance groups to work in synergy to nip terrorist attacks in the bud.
He said: “It is more likely the case that they had been lying in wait in surrounding bushes around the vicinity of the town where they struck. Of course, one cannot when dealing with matters of life and death, trivialise, or sidestep bits and pieces of evidence coming from different sources.
“It is important for civil society leaders to strengthen Amotekun which is biting more than it can chew. All hands must be on the deck to forestall a Zamfara-like scenario occurring in Southwest. This is imperative to prevent Yorubaland and similarly afflicted places in the country from becoming the next battleground for terrorists.”
The security expert said terrorism or insecurity is a nightmare that has claimed many Nigerian lives and traumatised many more “because the response of the government at the centre to the growing menace of the so-called bandits has been slow and ineffective, Uguoji added: “One of the functions of security is to act as remote censors predicting the future and future events long before they occur. Of course, it is not only the security agents that have this role, it is also part of the functions of vigilant government, especially one that is besieged or surrounded by adversaries.
“It would be recalled that on Sunday, June 5, 2022, St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, was attacked, but it is unfortunate that the science of futurology is not one of our finer points and we are not exactly a nation that plans but rather, one that trudges from one narrow escape to another, responding to emergencies rather than foreseeing them. It is a good thing, at least for a change, that security forces were able to arrest the perpetrators of the cruel massacre of the worshippers.
“Before the names were released to the public and news of their arrest made the rounds, the Yoruba militia, Amotekun, had intercepted a gang of young men numbering about 120 who were travelling from several states in the north to Akure also in Ondo State, so rightly, they were apprehended and handed over to the police. There appear to have been several such incidents. It is insignificant that it was not the police that made this important discovery but the civil protection agency established by the governors of the states in the Southwest.
“Sequel to this alerts of the possible raids by bandits and terrorists and the specific discovery in Ogun State of an alleged terrorist who had applied to be a security man in the state capital before his arrest. The Yoruba Generalissimo and founder of the Oodua people’s Congress (OPC), Aare Gani Adams had raised several warning signals concerning the possible invasion of the state in the Southwest by terrorists and bandits.
“The immediate past prelate of the Methodist church Nigeria. His Eminent Dr Samuel Uche while describing his experience in the den of kidnappers after he was released made it clear that his kidnappers, whom he described as Fulani claimed that their militias were already stationed in bushes both in the South-south and Southwest parts of the country, including the vicinity of the Lagos Ibadan Expressway, waiting for a signal to strike.”
He said even if the above claim and similar ones like it appear exaggerated, the government and people ought to take adequate precautions, because of they turn out to be true, the damage to society will be colossal. (Nation)