The Corps Commander, Ondo State Security Network, ‘Amotekun’ Adetunji Adeleye; has said that the activities of his officers and men on major roads of the state were part of the measures put in place by the State government to checkmate the nefarious activities of criminals especially during the Yuletide season.
Adeleye revealed this while addressing newsmen on Thursday at the Conference Room of the Corps headquarters in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Flanked by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on Security; Alhaji Jimoh Dojumo, Adeleye hinted that addressing the Press became necessary, following cheap blackmails in some sections of the social media that the activities of his men on the road we’re illegal and outside the scope of their rules of engagement.
“Following an intelligence report that bandits and criminals are planning to wreck havoc in the state, our Officers and Men were deployed to strategic locations along major roads of the state to forestall this occurrence and ensure a safe society; especially during this Yuletide season and beyond.”
“We are not acting outside the laws guiding the operations of the Corps. The provision of the law is very clear about the mandate of the Corps. We remain focused and committed in assisting all other security agencies in the state.”
The Corps also described the stop-and-search operation as a joint one among the Amotekun Corps, the Nigeria Police, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, noting that relevant enabling law empowers Amotekun Corps to collaborate with other security agencies to track criminals on major roads.
“For benefit of doubt, section 5(A) of the Ondo State Security Network Agency and Amotekun Corps’ Law empowers us to collaborate with other security agencies to track criminals on major roads. The law is in public domain.”
The Amotekun boss also stated that the ongoing stop-and-search of vehicles that are not registered, and cars with tinted glasses, and also the ban of the operational activities of commercial motorcyclists between the hours of 6pm to 6am, were part of the strategies being adopted by the Corps to foil plots by criminal elements and bandits who sinisterly plan to launch devastating attacks in the state; noting that about eighty percent of crimes committed in Ondo State and neighbouring states were perpetrated with tinted and unregistered vehicles, and with commercial motorcycles; otherwise known as ‘okada’.
“Majority of these criminal activities are carried out with okada, especially in the evenings and at nights. So also, is the use of cars with tinted glasses and unregistered vehicles which are used to perpetrate crimes.”
Commander Adeleye also disclosed that over fifty unregistered vehicles had so far been impounded while others were impounded for tinted glasses without Police permits.
Chief Adeleye declared that for owners of impounded vehicles to have their vehicles back, they must first register and obtain the tinted-glass permit from the Nigeria Police and then pay a token cautionary fee to Ondo State Board of Internal Revenue.
The Amotekun boss; in his address; called on owners of unregistered vehicles to immediately register their vehicles while those whose cars had tinted glasses but without permits, to immediately do the needful by obtaining Police tinted-glass permit to avoid such cars from being impounded.
© PRESENT NEWSPAPER
