Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has  urged the new officers of Ogun State’s wing of the South-West Joint Security Outfit known as, “Amotekun”,not to trample on the rights of the people.

Soyinka, who gave the warning at the inauguration of Amotekun in Abeokuta, the State capital, emphasized the need for  men and officers of the corps to discharge their duties within the provisions of rules that established the outfit.

 Soyinka was decorated as the Super Marshall of Amotekun Corps in the state”.

Soyinka said the inauguration of the security outfit is not in any way to replace or fight the regular police, but rather to complement their efforts in the fight of insecurity. He said the Police and Amotekun can never be rivals, but to complement what the police are doing to secure the citizens. He said “the unique swagger stick of the Governor Abiodun and the head of Amotekun, differs drastically from either the police or the military swagger stick.

“It is symbolic, it’s unique, it’s aesthetic and it just says we are different and I think that message, the aspect of it I want the security to understand is that it is not a replacement for you”. He said the Police are too jealous of their position that was why they seem to be negating the formation of the security outfit. “You are too jealous of your position, of your uniforms and everything and where there should be cooperation, there is competition, that is silly, let us now go beyond that and recognise that this unit is simply to complement what you are already doing adequately, that is to the best of your ability, inadequately as far as you are supposed to protect are concerned, the way we feel it”.

“So, be happy and welcome them within your ranks and work with them. Prof Soyinka then warned “the Amotekun people, saying “what we need to contribute to this initiative is monitoring, advice, designs. “I want the Amotekun team to understand that we will be watching you as representatives of the civil society group, we will be watching you very closely to make sure that you do not trample on the rights of citizens”. “You have been created to assist them, to protect them, to be part of them, to live inside them, to gather information, to say to the police, the military, we cannot handle this, but we have seen this, would like to take a look and assist? “You are not here because you now have a uniform to start behaving like some other security agencies. You have to set an example to say that you are a civic unit.

Speaking at the launch, Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun noted that the security challenges facing the state and the nation as a whole needed the cooperation of all Nigerians and security agencies who should work in harmony and not unnecessary competition. Said he: “Let me note that the inauguration of the Amotekun in Ogun State is not to create unnecessary competition with other security agencies in the State. And this is why everybody must work together to further strengthen the security of lives and property in the state.”

Beggars in Ibadan have  protest low patronage by members of the public following a recent rumour that some rich men usually ‘buy’ money from them for devilish reasons.

Spokesperson of the beggers, Imam Abubakar Abdullahi, Serikin Hausawa of Hausawa Community, Oja’ba, Ibadan, said the report had created deep hatred for his people.

He said:“The reports that some wealthy people are buying money from beggars, including the physically-challenged people, for money rituals is not true.

As a result of the claim that some ritualists do buy money from these beggars, there has been public resentment against these innocent people.

“What we know is that traders, hawkers and commercial drivers do come to these beggars who are mainly blind and lame people, to change money (get smaller denominations).We need to clear our names so that people will not be punishing us for offences we don’t know anything about.”