The Ondo State Government has set up a joint security patrol team comprising security agencies and paramilitary forces to reduce the incidents of kidnapping and killing of farmers and travelers in different parts of the state.
The team, according to the Commander of State Security Network codename Amotekun, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, included the Police, National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Army, and Amotekun Corps.
Speaking during the parade of 32 suspected criminals arrested within one week, Adeleye said the joint patrol team has been able to restore normalcy in Akure North, which is the hotbed of killing and kidnapping in recent weeks.
Adeleye said the officers and men of the Amotekun mobilized support from the neighboring local government and entered into the forest reserves and areas noted for nefarious activities and were able to arrest 32 suspects for kidnapping.
The suspects, he said, were arrested around Akure North, Akure South, Ose, and Akoko local governments in the last week. He said they were smoked out of the forest reserve areas of the state and around the places where these unfortunate kidnappings and killings took place.
With the joint effort put in place by the state government, where all security agencies were drafted to flush out suspected criminals from their hideouts in the forest and in the town, Adeleye said the state would be safe from criminal activities.
According to him, officers and men from all security agencies, including Amotekun, have been parading the areas notorious for criminal activities, saying that normalcy has been restored in those areas. The place, he said, included Ago-Dada, Ago-Oyinbo, Ago-Ademekun, and its environment.
His words “We want to reassure the residents that they can continue their normal farming activities as the government has established a joint task force to stabilize the very remote areas of Akure North, where these nefarious activities take place. The government is also making efforts to open up the routes in the area such that response and respite can occur in case of emergency.”
Adeleye said the leadership of Miyetti Allah has been invited to help fish out the bad ones among them so that forests and towns of the state can be free of bandits.
Consequently, he said the trucks bringing food from the North to the Southern parts of the country should not carry more than five passengers. He said the Corps observed that trucks bringing foodstuffs and other things from the North usually come in with hundreds of people without knowing where they are going.
Adeleye said the leadership of Miyetti Allah has agreed to inform the owners of the trucks that the state would not tolerate more than five people per trailer for the loads, and security agencies at the borders have been informed to send those vehicles with goods and human beings in their hundreds back to where they’re coming from.
