The Northern Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) on Thursday, kicked against the just-launched “Operation Amotekun”, a joint security outfit conceived by the six governors of Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo States to address killings, kidnapping, robbery and other security threats in the South-West.
NYCN President, Mallam Isah Abubakar described it as a threat to national security in a statement issued barely hours after the launch.
Mallam Abubakar said that the outfit was an offshoot of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), hence should be stopped.
The statement reads in part:
“AMOTEKUN group in South-west is OPC military wing in disguise in much the same league with the proscribed IPOB terrorist organization, the President must not allow this unconstitutionality to prevail.
“The South-west Governors must desist from backing nefarious groups such as this one. AMOTEKUN is a threat to peace and national security, and any attempt to jeopardize Nigeria’s sovereignty.
“The AMOTEKUN GROUP is not different from Boko Haram and the IPOB movements. “We call on the Nigerian Police, DSS and the military not to take this lightly with the Governors of South-west.
“The National Security Adviser should promptly take steps that will avert the looming threat to our national security that is about to be created by governors of South-west, OPC and others.”
Governors in the southwest zone had on Thursday in Ibadan the Ouo state capital flagged off the security outfit saying it’s not a replacement of the Nigeria police force by rather to complement them.
Speaking at the lunch of the outfit the Ekiti state Governor Kayode Fayemi said the aim is to restore confidence in the people who voted them into power and to further show them that the government of the southwest states cares for their wellbeing and security.
Each Governor of the Southwest has provided 10 new vehicles to ensure the smooth take off of the security outfit.
It remains to be seen whether or not the new initiative will get the support of the federal government.
(C) Control TV 2020.
