I will acquire AK47 for Amotekun Corps to protect Ondo people — Akeredolu

Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, Ondo State Governor and Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, has said the state government will acquire sophisticated weapons such as AK47 for the State Security Network Agency codenamed Amotekun Corps, to protect the citizens of the state.

Akeredolu in a statement he personally signed and made available on Thursday through his official twitter handle and Facebook account, lambasted the Federal Government for playing double standards with the nation’s security.

The governor, wondered why Amotekun, a Southwest Regional Security outfit, could not bear sophisticated weapons despite continuous call for such, but its security counterpart in Katsina State, established to tame bandits and terrorists, are bearing AK47.

“The video making the rounds showing the equivalent of the Western Nigeria Security Network (Amotekun Corps) in Katsina, obtaining the approval of the Federal Government to bear arms is fraught with great dangers. Denying Amotekun the urgently needed rights, to legitimately bear arms is a repudiation of the basis of true federalism which we have been clamoring for,” Akeredolu said.

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“That Katsina was able to arm its state security force, with the display of AK47 means we are pursuing one country, two systems solution to the national question. If the Katsina situation conferring advantages on some, in the face of commonly faced existential threats, it means that our unitary policing system, which has failed, is a deliberate method of subjugation which must be challenged.

“The Independence agreement was based on a democratic arrangement to have a federal state and devolved internal security mechanics.

“We must go back to that agreement. Denying Amotekun the right to bear arms exposes the Southwest to life-threatening marauders and organized crime.

“It is also a deliberate destruction of our agricultural sector. It is an existential threat.

“We want to reiterate, that what is sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander. Ondo State government under the doctrine of necessity have decided to fulfil its legal, constitutional and moral duty to the citizens of the State, by acquiring arms to protect them.

“This is more so, given that the bandits have an unchecked access to sophisticated weapons. The State government cannot look on while its citizens are being terrorized and murdered with impunity. We will defend our people.”