The Ondo state government says it has sent back 42 northerners that invaded Okitipupa local government area of the state because they pose security risk.
The state commander of Amotekun Corps, Chief Adetunji Adeleye said the decision was taken in the best interest of the people.
The 42 Invaders were spotted in Okitipupa last Thursday. Their arrival had created unnecessary tension in the town.
The Amotekun boss said their agent claimed they belong to an NGO.
He said, “In the last three days, there have been issues relating to the invasion of the state by alleged Fulani men. Our intelligence showed us the influx of some people especially to Okitipupa Local Government area of the state. So, we monitored and we found out that they converged in front of the Army barracks in Okitipupa.
“They were there for a couple of hours and at that point we tried to find out what their mission was, but because they couldn’t give satisfactory explanations, we moved them to our local office in Okitipupa and later to the state headquarters for proper debriefing.
“When they arrived, we profiled them and we found out that they are primarily from two major states, that’s Kano and Jigawa States.
“Their mission in the state was not clear and majority of them don’t even know how they got to the state. All they were told is that they were going for training. Training for who, by who or whatsoever, they do not know.
“But from detailed investigation, we were able to narrow it down to their sponsors. The sponsors happened to also claimed that they belong to an NGO, that they contracted out the training to a consultant who was supposed to train their men. They said they were going to train them as security guards.
“They are security risk to the state, and at this point we have invited their sponsors, the head of the NGO and Chairman of the board. They’ve also offered explanation. But we feel that we should let the people of Ondo State know that there is no crisis in Okitipupa Local Government. The way it was portrayed was as if some hoodlums or militants had taken over”.
The Amotekun commander reassured the people of Ondo State that government is firmly on ground in conjunction with other security agencies.
He advised them to go about their businesses, saying, “we have ensured that our intelligence unit had covered the entire state and we’ll alert the public on any wrong move.”
On his part, the state Commissioner for Information, Donald Ojogo said the security situation, the state found itself is a very precarious one.
He said, “As you also witnessed none of them was molested. The situation would have degenerated to the extent of lynching and jungle justice. It was almost getting to that point when they were seen in a suspicious manner in Okitipupa but the governor had to rise up to the occasion to ensure that they were given adequate protection, so that jungle justice had to be avoided. That was one of the key points that was achieved in the last 72 hours. It was a very frightening situation.
“Ordinarily, looking at the insecurity situation in the country, some of these persons would have been molested if not killed but that is not what we want. Whatever is worth doing, must be well done and we ensured as a government that they were well protected and taken care of, until they were moved out of that danger zone to Akure.
“What government is trying to do today is to ensure that the way they came to the state, they will leave the state safely, peacefully and unhurt, so that when they get to their various state, they will also say to their state government and their people that the movement that brought them to Ondo State was not clear and the state government had to protect them and move them back.
“Also I have the instructions and the directive of Mr Governor to use this medium to inform everybody, particularly, government officials that any security situation we found ourselves, the first point of contact must be security agencies.
“They are the only points of contact. Even me as Commissioner for Information and spokesperson of government is not authorized to speak on issues related to insecurity, no matter how insensitive it is. As long as it is security matter, we do not want anybody to speak without proper authorization”.
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