Amotekun storms South-West forests for fleeing terrorists

South-West states on Thursday said they had put the regional security outfit, Amotekun, on the alert following renewed attacks by killer herdsmen and terrorists in Ondo State.

Amotekun officials of Osun, Oyo, Ondo and Ekiti states, who spoke separately with our correspondents, said they had got credible intelligence that terrorists fleeing military operations in the North-West would seek refuge in the forests of the southern states.

Amotekun personnel, therefore said they had started combing forests in the region for the fleeing terrorists from the North-West.

As South-West states beefed up security, groups including the Arewa Consultative Forum; the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo, in separate interviews with The PUNCH, lamented recent killings in the country, particularly in Zamfara, where 200 people were killed, as well as Plateau, Ondo and Enugu states.

The group said recent statements on insecurity by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), showed that he was not in touch with reality.

Berating the President, the ACF said insecurity had worsened in the country since he assumed office in 2015 despite his military credentials.

The ACF noted with sadness that the President was elected partly because Nigerians believed he had all it took to crush any form of security challenges but the reverse remained the case.

The forum through its National Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Yawe, stated these in reaction to the sustained killings in Zamfara, Niger and bandits attacks in Ondo, Enugu, Benue and Plateau, and other parts of the country.

The ACF’s spokesman told The PUNCH in Kaduna with the look of things, it seemed the President was not in tune with the reality on ground.