By Foluso Adelaja
The Covid-19 pandemic and its attendant lockdown which has put every facet of human lives on ebb may have also taken its toll on the prospect of the Ogun state version of Operation Amotekun, the acclaimed Western Nigeria Security Network conjoining all the six states in the subregion.
According to Ven. (Dr.) Samson Kunle Popoola, the Chairman of the Ogun state Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC), the dreaded pandemic is stalling the commencement of the much awaited security outfit.
Ven. Popoola made this known exclusively to THE STATEPOST during an interview in his office at the Old Secretariat, Okelewo, Abeokuta during the week.
He said everything is in place though for the smooth take off of the security outfit which bill was passed into law since last March by the state House of Assembly and assented to by the State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, but that Covid-19 is the cause of the delay.
Ven. Popoola who is also the secretary of the state's Community Policing Advisory Committee, a body set up by the state government and chaired by the Awujale of Ijebuland to pave way for the smooth birth of community police in the state gave kudos to Governor Abiodun who he acclaimed as a man of peace who is ever ready to invest on peace in the state.
He said the governor appreciates the efforts of those working tirelessly to sustain peace in the state hence he does not unusually delay in meeting their needs adding that "so also with regard to Amotekun, he had put every thing in place, even vehicles".
The PCRC chairman assured that barring any hitch, the subregional security outfit which had been domiciled already by all the states in the subregion in accordance with the dictate of the Federal Government would take off in no distant future.
Ven. Popoola expressly allayed the fear that Operation Amotekun and the community police that is presently on the drawing table would become security outfits too many competing with the Nigeria Police when fully operational.
He explained that Nigeria's population is grossly under policed hence every new security outfit constitutionally established is an advantage to the
Police.
"Hardly can any of such security outfits function without recourse to the Nigeria Police and of course in tandem with the PCRC", he noted.
Making the Ogun State So-Safe Corps as a typical example, he pointed out that the security outfit is very relevant to enforcement of peace in the state without being in competition with the Nigeria Police.
He stressed that these security outfits if well established and managed, they would be to the advantage of the people as their establishment amounts to taking the police back to the people.
Operation Amotekun is the codename for the Western Nigeria Security Network based in all the six states of the south west sub region of Nigeria. It was founded in January 7, 2020 at Ibadan, Oyo State as a resort to all forms of terror and insecurity, including herdsmen's criminal excesses in the subregion.
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