Governor Seyi Makinde on Monday confirmed that the 200 Amotekun corps deployed to Ibarapa area of Oyo State are on ground and battle-ready for the challenge ahead.
Incessant killings by herdsmen in Igangan, Ibarapa North Local Government has fuelled tensions in the area, especially the quit notice issued Fulani herdsmen by Yoruba activists, Sunday Igboho.
Farmers in Ibarapa are still complaining of attacks by herdsmen who drove them away from their farms in retaliation of the sack of their leader in the area.
Makinde had said last week that he had approved the deployment 200 Amotekun to the area to maintain peace and secure the people.
The governor was in Ibarapa on Monday where he addressed stakeholders’ forum and gave four additional vehicles to Amotekun officers to work with.
He said since the governors were at the mercy of federal agencies in terms of security, the issue of establishing Amotekun came into force.
Makinde said the 200 Amotekun deployed to the area were already on ground to tackle the problems in the area.
According to him, “governors are at the mercy of federal security agencies, that is why we ask for the state police in the fist instance, it is a constitutional issue, and in the absence of that the states in the southwest came together to form Amotekun.
“Problems don’t go away completely, you have to keep working at it. The law is there, but the implementation has not been smooth but we will keep on working at it.
“The 200 Amotekun have been deployed and they are here, we are supporting them with additional logistics, we brought four additional operational vehicles for them and we will support them with more logistics as time goes on.”
He added that “we’ve been engaging with more stakeholders in Igbo-Ora, this morning. We met with traditional rulers in Ibarapaland. We also spoke with student representatives of Government Technical College, Igbo-Ora. Furthermore, we handed over additional vehicles to the Amotekun corps in Ibarapa zone.”

By Kazeem Ugbodaga