The Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu on Tuesday said it was high time to create state police as part of the solution to the spate of insecurity in the country.
The Governor noted that the protection of lives and property of the people must take a major priority, adding that it was part of the reason he was elected to the office to perform.
Akeredolu stated this in Akure, the state capital while playing host to representatives of lawmakers of the All Progressives Congress South-West caucus in the House of Representatives, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office
The governor said part of the move to secure Ondo State and South-West, in general, led to the creation of the state security agency also known as Amotekun corps.
He said, ”The most important thing you have said is that we have to think about our people first and in doing that, we have to make a declaration. We felt convinced that we can not have a situation where a first-class Oba is killed, a deputy registrar killed, and the wife of the chief of staff kidnapped. It’s one of the things that led us to create Amotekun.
“When we came up with Amotekun, people were scared they thought it was state police, but we stood our ground and Amotekun has come to stay. You have a duty to us, to our people and that has to do with the issue of state police. The time is now. This rampant security challenge is virtually everywhere. This issue of state police, we need to pursue it” he noted.
The lawmakers, who declared support for Akeredolu over his fight against criminality in the South-West, commended the Governor who is the Chairman of the South-West Governors’ Forum for his pronouncement that there was no place for criminals in the zone
