Alao-Akala: ‘Amotekun will fail in South-West except in Lagos’

Former Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala said that the joint security outfit launched by the south-west governors will fail in the region except in Lagos.

The former governor while speaking on his memoirs titled: “Amazing Grace” billed for launch in June as part of activities slated for his 70th birthday, said the security outfit would fail because the right people were not appointed to head the outfit.

Alao-Akala, who was an Assistant Commissioner of Police said the appointment of retired Army officers as director-generals of Amotekun in the region is wrong.

Amotekun was first launched as regional security outfit for the South-West states (TheCable) Pulse Nigeria

He said, “The Amotekun Corp will fail in the South-West states except for Lagos. The outfit is supposed to take care of the 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 especially 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 ex-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 in the state 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.”

Amotekun was launched on Thursday, January 9, 2020, as a regional outfit. It later became state effort following a series of meeting between the Federal Government and the six governors in the region.