Oyo Government harmonises youths, Amotekun Corps against Crime, Insecurity

In its bid to ensure an improved working relationship and synergy between youths and operatives of the State Security Network codenamed Amotekun Corps, the Oyo state government has held a sensitisation stakeholders meeting.

The meeting, held at the House of Chiefs, House of Assembly Complex, Agodi Secretariat, Ibadan, was attended by youths from across the state – especially areas termed hotspot of clashes, community leaders, youth representatives, Amotekun operatives and government functionaries, among others.

At the meeting, the government appealed to both the youths and the Amotekun operatives to see each other as brothers and partners in progress.

The sensitisation programme tagged: “Stakeholders Meeting with Amotekun Corps on Security Ethics of Youth Engagement and Interaction” was facilitated by the Special Assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde on Youths and Sports, Mr Kazeem Bolarinwa.

In his welcome address, Bolarinwa advised the youths not to see the introduction of the Amotekun Corps as a threat to their existence, similarly calling on the personnel of the Amotekun Corps not to see the youths as hooligans and bandits.

He said, “Amotekun is a better friend to the youth than any other force you can see or think, that is the main reasons they were inaugurated by the government of Oyo State and Southwest governors so that the youths of the state will not see the appearance of Amotekun as a threat to their peace because they have been put in place to ensure there is peace.”

One of the clan heads present at the sensitisation programme, Chief Olajuwon Adelokun Subair, lamented that the youths are being used by politicians for their political gains and abandoned afterward, admonishing the state government to extend the sensitisation programme to other communities, in order to yield better results.

He said “The relationship between Amotekun and youth is a sensitive one because we should not even speak around the youth in general. We should talk about the grassroots youths, they are the most marginalised set of youth in Nigeria and in Oyo state because when it is time for politics they are engaged for thuggery but afterward they are abandoned and neglected.”

“They do not have anything they enjoy from the government at the end of the day, only hooliganism is what they used them for. We are hopeful and optimistic it is going to yield better results if the sensitisation programme continues,” Subair stated.

In his remark, the Special Assistant to Governor Makinde on Community Relations, Mr. Olufemi Josiah, urged community leaders in the state to ensure they engage the youths in their communities in all their activities to curb the menace of thuggery and banditry in the state.

The youths in attendance, in their separate remarks, expressed appreciation to the government for the meeting and called for a continuation of the effort, assuring that it would go a long way in building a sense of harmony between the Amotekun operatives and the youths.

They also vowed to ensure that areas of clashes and frictions between the two groups would be addressed in no long time.

Nnenna.O