EDITORIAL: A SEALED SECURITY OUTFIT, A SEALED FATE: IGP’S BLOCKADE OF AMOTEKUN IN OSUN IS AN AFFRONT TO PUBLIC SAFETY

The desperate plea by Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State to the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, is not just a request; it is a damning indictment of a federal security policy that places bureaucratic ego above the lives of Nigerian citizens. The continued seal on the Amotekun security corps offices in Osun State, and the protracted detention of its operatives without trial, is an act of profound insensitivity and a glaring failure of leadership at the highest level of the Nigeria Police Force.

While Fulani terrorists, masquerading as herdsmen, occupy forests, carrying out deadly kidnappings and mass killings, and while hoodlums and cultists make communities unsafe, the IGP has chosen to disable one of the most effective, localised security mechanisms in the South-West. This is not policy; it is perilous obstinacy. What possible justification can exist for disarming a state at its moment of acute vulnerability, especially as the bloody crisis in neighbouring Kwara State sends shockwaves across the region? The mindless slaughter of innocents in the Woro community stands as a tragic testament to what happens when communities are left undefended.

The constitutional absurdity here is staggering. Governors are constitutionally recognised as the Chief Security Officers of their states. They feel the daily pulse of insecurity and bear the immediate brunt of citizens’ anguish. If Governor Adeleke, armed with security briefings and grassroots intelligence, asserts that Osun is “handicapped” and that Amotekun’s absence has created a vacuum for criminals, who is the IGP to contradict him from an insulated office in Abuja? This top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to security has been a catastrophic failure nationwide. Amotekun represents a grassroots, intelligence-driven model that works, as evidenced in Ondo and Oyo states. Why then is Osun being singled out for this security strangulation?

The questions are urgent and demand immediate answers from Mr. Egbetokun:

1. Why is Amotekun, a legally established security outfit born from a collective regional consensus, being prevented from operating in Osun State?
2. On what grounds are its officers detained for months without trial, in clear violation of their fundamental rights? If there is evidence, let it be presented in court. If not, this is state-sponsored harassment.
3. What specific security masterplan does the IGP have for Osun’s rural and border communities that is superior to the governor’s request for a proven, local force?

This newspaper finds the IGP’s position not only illogical but fundamentally immoral. It reeks of a politicisation of security that Nigerians can no longer tolerate. To deny a people the right to defend themselves with a structure they have created, while marauders run riot, is an unconscionable dereliction of duty.

We, therefore, add our voice in thunderous echo to Governor Adeleke’s cry:

· We call on IGP Kayode Egbetokun to, without any further delay, unseal the Amotekun offices in Osun State and release its detained operatives. The people of Osun deserve the right to their own security.
· We call on President Bola Tinubu, as the Commander-in-Chief, to immediately rein in the IGP. The President, who championed regional collaboration during his tenure as Governor of Lagos, must understand the critical importance of this local intervention. Security must never be a tool for political brinkmanship. The blood of innocent Nigerians is too high a price to pay for inter-agency rivalry or federal overreach.

The seal on Amotekun’s offices is a seal on the fate of Osun’s vulnerable citizens. It must be broken now. Tomorrow may be too late.