TheCable

Yemi Farounbi, the protem chairman of the Coalition of Yoruba Liberation Movement, has called on south-west governors to strengthen the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun.

He said Amotekun operatives need to be “heavily fortified” so that they can repel the attacks of bandits.

Farounbi’s message was contained in a press release which was read at an event held in Ibadan, Oyo state capital, to mark Democracy Day.

Speaking on the backdrop of the recent attack in Ondo and Ekiti states, and in Igangan, a rural community in the Ibarapa area of Oyo, Farounbi said the southwest is under attack from the herders and bandits.

He said: “We hereby alert our people in Yorubaland and the entire Yoruba race of the impending indirect slavery coming up in the heels of the well-orchestrated intimidation of the people of the South-Western part of Nigeria by the ganging up of some lawless herdsmen and bandits from Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso.

“This alert having been earlier raised by no less Brigadier-General Ajibola Togun (Rtd), the former Director of Military Intelligence and Directorate of State Security Service, currently serving as the Chairman of Oyo State Security Network (Amotekun).

“Our Amotekun should be heavily fortified and its personnel made to undergo intensive training and work closely with community self-defence groups such as Agbekoya, Oodua People’s Congress, Ekun Oodua, vigilante groups and others.”

Farounbi described the recent spate of attacks in the region as a deliberate act of provocation in the wake of the south-west governors’ resolve to outlaw open grazing.