Security: Akeredolu tackles FG over ‘discriminatory treatment’, vows to acquire automatic weapons for Amotekun,
Anthony Iwuoma
The Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, has lambasted the Federal Government over its preferential treatment of some sections of the country.
Akeredolu was irked by the discovery that the Federal Government had approved sophisticated weapons for a the Katsina State security outfit while denying similar outfits the same privilege.
Consequently, the governor, in his official Twitter handle, @RotimiAkeredolu, on Thursday vowed to acquire automatic weapons for the state’s own security outfit, Amotekun, to “protect the people.”
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He accused the Federal Government of playing double standards with the nation’s security in a game he described as “one country, two systems.”
The governor wrote: “We believe in one Nigeria, but we cannot have one country, two systems.
“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.
“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.
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“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.”
