Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has reiterated that his administration will buy arms for Amotekun security outfit.
Akeredoli said the decision to arm the state operatives was to protect his people against “marauders and conflict entrepreneurs.”
Akeredolu spoke against the Presidency’s opposition to his move noting that since state security outfits are backed by law, Amotekun must be allowed to have access to automatic weapons.
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Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, had on Tuesday, said that no state had been authorised to procure automatic weapons for its security outfit.
Shehu said:
“Under the existing regulations, only the Office of the National Security Adviser can issue such authorisation, upon proper clearance by the President and Commander-in-Chief, and as it is at this moment, no such approvals have been issued to any state government.
“In the specific, Katsina State often cited, the Governor, Aminu Masari, wrote to explain that his administration invited the Provost of the Civil Defence Training College in Katsina to train their vigilantes for a five-day period in the handling and operations of Pump Action Rifles.”
“The President has repeatedly made it clear that nobody is allowed to illegally carry AK-47 or any other automatic weapons and that they must surrender them,” he had said.
But Akeredolu, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Richard Olatunde, said the reason adduced by Shehu for the Federal Government’s continued refusal to approve the use of weapons by state security outfits was no longer plausible.
He added that the Katsina State Government has yet to deny his statement on the use of AK47s by its vigilantes during training.
The governor said that it was important for the Presidency to inform the public that the weapons used by the Katsina Vigilantes were returned to the armory.
He advised that the call by the sub-national for state police should be heeded and changes made where necessary.
It read:
“Every governor took an oath to protect his state and its residents. Therefore, the sub-national must be allowed to put in place security forces as a counter-balancing force to face these marauders who have unchecked access to sophisticated weapons.”
