The Lagos State Government announced on Sunday that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu would soon sign a bill to establish Amotekun Corps recently passed by the House of Assembly into law.
The state’s Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, made the announcement in Ikeja.
Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo States are some of the states in the South-West that have enacted laws to create Amotekun Corps in their respective states.
Hamzat said the essence of establishing Amotekun Corps in the state was to boost security, especially along major highways and border communities.
“Yes, we will sign it (Bill). And on the Amotekun Bill, I think we all know what Amotekun is all about.
“The design of Amotekun is for us to be able to patrol our borders with neighbouring state. Lagos has one neighbouring state, Ogun State.
“So, if you are a criminal and you are trying to run from Ogun to Lagos State and vice-versa, Amotekun is there to chop you off. That is the essence.”
The deputy governor said the state government already had the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC), a complementary community policing outfit, before the idea of Amotekun came up.
He said the state sent the bill establishing the LNSC to all the states in the South-West to enrich the formation of their respective Amotekun corps.
Hamzat said a lot of operatives of the LNSC would go into the state’s Amotekun Corps to feed the new outfit with information on their areas of coverage.
The deputy governor said the Amotekun Corps, through intelligence sharing, would help to check trans-border crimes in the South-West.
He recalled that it was through intelligence sharing that the state government was able to rescue some pupils who were kidnapped in Lagos in Ondo State a few years ago.
