26th June, 2020
PRESS RELEASE:
ARREST OF ‘BANDITS’ :
MURIC TASKS AMOTEKUN ON ILE-IFE CRISIS
Many media houses reported that the Osun State Amotekun corps
arrested some ‘bandits’ who tried to enter the state on Sunday, 21st
June, 2020.
However, an Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim Rights
Concern (MURIC), has advised Amotekun to focus its attention on attacks on the
people of Ile-Ife by thugs sponsored by illegal miners. MURIC commended
Amotekun for its alertness. It tasked Amotekun on professionalism and
detribalized security consciousness. The organization also cautioned Amotekun
against sensationalism.
MURIC spoke on Friday, 26th June, 2020 through its
Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
According to MURIC, “We commend Amotekun operatives for being
alert. But they must always use the right description for those apprehended.
Those suspects should not have been described as ‘bandits’. They did not have
to be linked with the banditry going on in the North. Amotekun must be
professional and totally detribalized if it wants to achieve the desired
results.
“A lot of holes can be picked from
the story of the so called ‘bandits’ arrested by Amotekun. Those suspects were
probably thugs imported from Lagos, not ‘bandits’ as reported. The media quoted
the commandant of Amotekun himself saying that they were ‘from Lagos State
going to Itagunmodi mining site in Atakumosa West Local Government Area of Osun
State’.
“We all know what has been happening in the illegal mining sites in
the State of Osun. Thuggery and hooliganism reigns supreme as innocent
residents are hounded while their homes are bombarded by flying missiles as a
result of explosions at the mines. This is the situation in Ile-Ife as we
speak. The citizenry is restless and the security situation has been compounded
by the fact that powerful people in the town are behind the illegal mining and
the persecution of the Ife people.
“In fact, a video clip in
possession of MURIC shows the near-demolition of one Mr. Segun Awofolarin’s
house at Asarinlegan, Ile-Ife, caused by heavy stones which landed on the roof
and penetrated the bedrooms. Several other heavy stones landed like scud
missiles on the baby’s cot, the bathroom and the entire compound. This incident
occurred on Tuesday, 2nd June, 2020. The family was lucky to escape
unhurt because they did not sleep at home on that day.
“Several petitions have been sent by the people of Ile-Ife to the
state government. Accusing fingers have been pointed at imported thugs being
used by powerful people sponsoring the miners to intimidate the residents. It
was some of these thugs who were being transported to the mining sites to
harass the people of Ile-Ife that the Amotekun men intercepted, not ‘bandits’. The
crisis dates back to two or three years.
“MURIC appeals to the state
government to use Amotekun boys in rescuing the Ife people from the hands of
heartless businessmen who are bent on making life miserable for the poor masses
in Ile-Ife. This should be the focus of Amotekun, not imaginary bandits and
herdsmen. Ile-Ife is the cradle of Yorubaland. The town is therefore central to
the success or failure attributed to Amotekun.
“We need Amotekun to combat
internal security challenges and the situation in Ile-Ife is getting out of
hand. Charity begins at home. Ife people are being chased out of their homes
the same way bandits are chasing innocent people out of their homes in Katsina,
Niger and some other Northern states. The police is reportedly handicapped.
This challenge must go to Amotekun since the latter was established to
complement police operations.
“It is however disturbing that the first report of arrests did not
mention any weapons. It only said ‘assorted types of charms were recovered from
two of the suspected bandits’. Something is wrong if all eighteen people in a
bus are branded bandits when ordinary charms were found on only two of them. It
was the second report which came 24 hours later that made reference to
‘multifarious matchets, cutlasses, shovels and assorted charms’.
“Even a five-year old child knows
that ‘matchets and cutlasses’ are one and the same thing. So why duplicate it?
This is an exercise in hyperbole. Are shovels also weapons? It is well known
that labourers move around with the tools of their work and the unskilled
labour from the North carrying their tools around is a common sight in the
South. Must we victimize poor labourers? When did we stop being our brothers’
keepers? Amotekun is manifesting dire desertification of professionalism plus a
pitiable passion for stigmatization.
“Contrary to the emotional headline which stated that the ‘bandits’
were arrested, it could be gathered from the story that Amotekun merely ‘sent
them back to where they came from’. This is sheer sensationalism calculated to
heat up the polity. It is absolutely unnecessary unless some people are working
towards the destruction of this country. A security unit created for the
purpose of maintaining peace and security must not work at cross-purposes with
other law enforcement agencies. Neither should it create unnecessary fear.
“Those suspects should not have been allowed to go scot free. It
exposes Amotekun’s lack of experience. The suspects have violated the general
ban on interstate movement. They should have been arrested and prosecuted even
if it is for that offence alone.
“MURIC supports the step taken by Yoruba governors to combat
insecurity. Nothing is wrong with seeking to protect one’s state but emphasis
must not be on any particular tribe as targets, suspects or culprits. We must de-emphasise
north-south dichotomy in our search for solutions to our security challenges. Criminals
must be apprehended without stereotyping any tribe or region.
“We advise leaders of all tribes to caution unscrupulous elements
among their people against going to other states to engage in criminal
activities. Such actions have the capacity to dent the image of their tribes. If
you are a thief and you cannot stop stealing, steal in your state. Don’t go to
other states to tarnish the image of your tribe. This advice goes to all ethnicities:
Igbo, Ijaw, Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, etc because all tribes have their own
criminals just as they all have their decent and hardworking citizens.
“Let us, therefore, address
criminality and stop linking criminals with their tribes. Let us punish criminals,
not other innocent people who happen to come from the criminal’s town or
village. It is not a crime to be a Yoruba, an Igbo or Fulani. Any of us could
have been born anywhere.
“MURIC sees the present problem of insecurity facing Nigeria as a
crisis of values and the way to solve it is for all of us to re-examine our
norms with a view to re-engineering societal values. Our goal should be to
evolve a better society, not to criminalise any ethnicity.
For instance, the recent rise in
rape cases is a challenge for Amotekun. How can four cases of rape and killing
occur in Akinyele Local Government of Ibadan alone within one month and
Amotekun cannot fish out the culprits in its own backyard? Is it herdsmen and
Fulanis alone they are commissioned to apprehend?
“The danger in the stigmatization of any tribe by Amotekun lies in
the exposure of Yoruba people living in other regions to danger. Are Amotekun
authorities willing to sacrifice Yoruba people living outside the region? Those
who fail to give justice and fairplay will heap injustice on their kith and kin
in other places. Amotekun must be broadminded. Its operation must not be
narrowed to looking for criminals from a particular tribe otherwise it will
miss hundreds of criminals from other tribes.
“We remind Nigerians that Amotekun is still in its infancy and any
growing infant must have teething problems. We therefore call on all Nigerians,
particularly non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to monitor its activities in
order to ensure transparency, accountability, justice and fairplay. This admonition
should not surprise anyone since it is in the character of NGOs to monitor the
activities of government agencies, including the police. Therefore, Amotekun
cannot be an exception. This security outfit must not be allowed to grow into a
tribal or religious Gestapo.
“On a last note, we commend Amotekun for its alertness but we
advise the security outfit to focus its attention on attacks on the people of
Ile-Ife by thugs sponsored by illegal miners and serial rapists who are
defiling Yoruba women. We task Amotekun on professionalism. We call for
detribalized security consciousness and caution against sensationalism.”
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
