Group to South-West governors: Empower Amotekun

Worried by the escalating security crisis in the South West region of the country, a pan-Yoruba group, the Majeobaje Movement, has accused the governors of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo and Osun states of gross abdication of their primary constitutional duty of protecting lives and properties of their citizens.
The group in the letter dated 12th December, 2020 signed on behalf of its general membership by its steering committee members including Chief Akintayo Akin-Deko, Sir Gbenga Adebusuyi, Revd. Muyiwa Bamgbose and Mr Ibukun Fakeye, Dr Dolapo Sikuade, Mr Deola Kumapayi, Mr Yomi Layinka and Mr Ayo Oyerinde, levelled the allegation in a ‘Save Our Souls’ letter to the Chairman of the South-West Governor’s Forum and Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, which was copied to the five other governors.
The Movement which is an alliance of professionals, entrepreneurs, policy specialists and academics concerned about and working for improved governance in Nigeria decried the spate of killings, kidnappings, rape and sundry criminal activities ravaging the region “under the governors’ watch, with the attendant loss of lives of many illustrious citizens and the destruction of their livelihoods”. 
Majeobaje wondered why the much trumpeted South West Security Network, codenamed Amotekun, was yet to be effectively pressed into the service of protecting the lives and property of the citizens of the region, against the high expectations of the citizens.
According to the group, “Insecurity in the SW has now reached a crisis point, partly because the Federal Government refuses to act decisively, and also because our South-West governors are failing to use Amotekun effectively.
“Because banditry has overwhelmed the Northwest, Fulani herdsmen are fleeing desertification, victims of Boko Haram in the Northeast are seeking refuge, and the unemployed from all parts of Nigeria are looking for work. These people are now streaming mostly into our SW states.
“They often do so with a high level of aggression including bearing of AK47 rifles with which our people are being raped and killed with scant regard to the sanctity of life, our culture or the rule of law.”
The group in a five-point recommendation, therefore enjoined the governors to act decisively in stamping out criminal activities within the region and ensure that citizens sleep with both eyes closed, especially now that the end-of-the-year festivities have peaked.