Due to the recent controversies surrounding the operations of the South-West Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has said that efforts must be made to ensure the security outfit does not become another Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force. 

There have been allegations of recklessness and extrajudicial killings against operatives of the security outfit, especially in Oyo State recently.

But while speaking on Saturday, January 9, 2021, on a programme on Arise TV, Soyinka said Amotekun corps need to be trained to understand the essence of their job. 

He said Amotekun operatives must be trained on ethics so that they don’t become brutal and ruthless like men of the defunct police unit. 

He said, “I have told them anytime you want us to come and assist, we will come even if it is just on the ethical session so that as you are training them to defend us, we are also training their minds so that Amotekun does not become another SARS, very important. We must do everything together.”

While Amotekun operatives have started operations in Ondo and Oyo state, Soyinka urges other states in the South-West region that are yet to launch their security outfits to do so quickly as the challenge of insecurity has reached a “stage of desperation”.