By: Ade Adeleke
The Commander of Ondo State Security Network, also known as Amotekun Corps, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, has declared that the security situation in the state is improving following various measures to tackle kidnapping and armed robbery in order to protect Nigerians and travellers plying highways and roads in state.
The Commander also assured Amotekun corps officers are now patrolling strategic highways and roads in the state to make them safe and free from criminals wrecking havocs.
Akogun Adeleye disclosed this yesterday at the corps headquarters in Akure while parading 45 suspects nabbed across the state for crimes ranging from kidnapping, burglary, assault, theft, raping to human trafficking amongst others.
The Amotekun Commander who is also the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security matters, noted that the deployment of more personnel in synergy with other sister agencies had yielded more efforts, recounting that it has drastically reduced crime incidence across the 18 council areas of the state.
According to Chief Adeleye, special surveillance teams are stationed in crime hotspot that used to be hideouts of men of the underworld, causing untold hardship on commuters plying through the highways in the state.
Recounting the gains of the proactive measures in recent times by all security agencies in the state, the Governor’s Special Adviser added that the agency had concluded the investigations of the 45 criminals and set to proceed on their prosecution.
Adeleye said, “The trend of crimes in Ondo State is now seriously coming down, as far as we are concerned, we are impressed about the safety of lives and properties in the state.
“If you look at the Akure metropolis, all major junctions are manned by the security operatives and we are trying more to patrol within the all 18 local government areas of the state.
“As we speak now, we have put measures in place in order to ensure that our roads are safe from criminals, our patrol vehicles are moving round for 24 hours.
“We want to reassure the good people of Ondo State to go about their normal duties. Again, the reenforcement ban on the use of okada in the night is also one of the major things responsible for the downward trend of criminals activities in the state generally.
“We have a case of one Okoyie Chukwuma, who specialises in burgling into cocoa stores, we also have one Philip Jacob who specialises in vandalising vehicles parked in mechanical workshop overnight.
“In Ore, there was a kidnapped of a family and we moved there immediately and we were able to arrested the kidnappers and released the victims.
“We also have those that are regular in house breaking, in the midnight, they have the ways of opening doors and silently entering to molest innocent people and disposes them of their valuables.
“We also have some people that specialises in using vehicles to steal goats across the state and some of the goats have been recovered from them. We have a gang of fraudsters that use spiritual means to defraud some people in the society.
“We have a case of some kidnappers that they will fake that you have hit their bikes, and when you come out to sympathise with them, they will just enter your vehicle and drive the victims away. We have eight suspected kidnappers from the Central and Southern Senatorial Districts of Ondo State,” Adeleye said.
