Amotekun shutdown endangering Osun, civil societies warn Governor Adeleke
By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –
The Osun Civil Societies Coalition (OCSC) has raised a red flag over what it describes as a dangerous security vacuum created by the continued closure of the Osun Amotekun Corps office on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police following the Akinlalu incident.
The coalition, in a letter addressed to Governor Ademola Adeleke and signed by its chairman, Comrade Dr Waheed Lawal, warned that keeping Amotekun under lock and key for weeks poses a direct and growing threat to Osun’s safety at a time of rising banditry and coordinated attacks across the country.
While OCSC acknowledged the need for investigation and accountability, it said it is unacceptable and dangerous that several weeks after the incident, the report remains concealed, the public remains uninformed, and Amotekun — the state’s primary grassroots security structure — remains locked down and unable to defend communities in the face of rising banditry and kidnapping incidents across the country.
According to the coalition, recent attacks including coordinated strikes in Kwara State, barely 120–150 km from Osun’s northern borders, and the Ekura Church attack show that criminal networks are expanding and penetrating deeper into the South-West. With Amotekun grounded, the group argued, Osun’s frontline defence has been dangerously weakened.
OCSC accused the governor of failing to act decisively as the state’s Chief Security Officer despite constitutional powers that position him as coordinator of all security structures within the state.
It stressed that Amotekun was created under the Osun State Security Network Agency Law, 2020, and cannot remain shut indefinitely without the governor asserting his authority.
The coalition listed the consequences of the shutdown, warning that border patrol, rural surveillance, community intelligence gathering, and anti-infiltration operations have collapsed, leaving villages and farmlands exposed.
OCSC therefore demanded from the governor the immediate engagement with the IGP, reopening of the Amotekun office, public release of the Akinlalu investigation report, full reactivation of Amotekun operations, and an emergency security stakeholders’ meeting involving traditional rulers, security agencies, and civil society.
