Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has raised the alarm that some people are using lies and disinformation to discredit the Oyo State Security Network codenamed Amotekun.
Makinde expressed this concern at the government house in Agodi on Wednesday.
He said Amotekun is a creation of the state that works within the law. But some people do not want Amotekun to succeed take advantage of the trust deficit that exist between the citizens and security forces to push their selfish agenda.
He said; “Amotekun is not operating in a vacuum. They are a creation of the law of the state. The Nigerian police is a creation of the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria. It is normal that we have inter and intra-agency friction where possible, but we will get everybody together and seek alignment towards the same end, basically.
“For the past six weeks that the Amotekun was deployed, we have seen various reports in the news. Most of these reports are good and a few are bad. And of the bad, quite a number are false information and fake news.
“For example, some newspapers carried the news that Amotekun killed seven Fulani herdsmen in Ibarapa. Such a story was circulated to stoke ethnic tension. Whereas, the real story was that Amotekun worked with the community members, including genuine herdsmen, to flush out bad elements in that zone.
“I have to tell you that there are people among us that don’t want Amotekun to succeed and they will use lies and disinformation to push their agenda. We must realise where we are coming from and where we really want to be.
Makinde added that if anyone claims he has a case of brutality against an Amotekun officer should be able to recognise the personnel because they work in their neighbourhood.
“Community policing is the way forward and we have to make it work. If somebody says he is abused by Amotekun and cannot pinpoint the Amotekun personnel in such an area, you are probably not from that neighborhood and you are a fake news carrier.
“So, as I always say, I know we do have trust deficit between the people and the authorities, and this makes it easier to think the worst of people in authority. But we should not cut our nose to spite our face. We must find a balance so that we do not turn the people trying to protect us to our enemies.”
Makinde launched the community security network – Amotekun with 1,500 officers in November 2020. The local security was deemed necessary to check insecurity plaguing the South-West region.
