Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Former governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala, has raised the alarm that the Amotekun Corps may fail in all the South West states, with the exception of Lagos.
He said the governors erred by appointing retired military officers as director generals of the corps, which was initiated to strengthen internal security by complementing the efforts of conventional security agencies in protecting the lives and property of the people.
Speaking with journalists ahead of the launch of his memoir, entitled: “Amazing Grace,” in commemoration of his 70th birthday in June, Alao-Akala said military officers were trained to defend territorial integrity of the nation against external aggression by fighting wars, and that they were not specially schooled on internal security management.
Alao-Akala, who retired from the Nigeria Police as an assistant commissioner of police (ACP), said: “The Amotekun Corps will fail in the South West states except Lagos. The outfit is supposed to take care of security of the people and their property across the zone. But it will fail in every state, except Lagos because the right people were not appointed to head it.
“You cannot expect a soldier to head Amotekun successfully. A police officer is trained specially on internal security management. If fundamentally, the foundation is weak, whatever you want to put on it would be weak. When you have a soldier there, he is taught how to kill. The governors don’t get it right by appointing former military men to head the outfits in the other states.
“If a retired senior police officer was appointed as the head of the Amotekun outfit in a state, the commissioner of police would respect him as his former superior. A retired army officer would want to be forceful in his approach. Remember that only the police can prosecute criminals, Amotekun cannot; so they need the cooperation of the police.
“The Amotekun personnel are not armed; they will be successful if they collaborate with the police by calling for support while trying to burst crimes in their respective states and localities.”