By KEMI KASUMU
Failure of Commander of Ondo State branch of South West Security Network otherwise called Amotekun, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, to reveal identities of suspects he claimed were arrested killers of St Francis Catholic Church worshippers in Owo, one week after announcing their arrest, has been described as unsettling with calls now going to him to come out clear on them.
Concerns were because minutes after the arrest, Afenifere and some other ethnic elements had declared the church attack to be declaration of war on Yoruba race with a particular Yoruba newspaper saying Fulani did the attack and Yoruba leaders including Prof. Wole Soyinka backed the claims when he visited the Ondo State Governor in Akure days after.
Those worried about the foot-dragging of Amotekun over who they arrested as killers of the church worshippers are saying, if these people could be so much in a hurry to blame Fulani for the church attack minutes after it happened, they should not have delayed for this long, one week after Amotekun’s acclaimed arrest, to reveal identity of the suspected killers.
The DEFENDER reported last week that the Amotekun commander claimed in a media report that criminals who were behind the killing of about 40 church worshippers in Owo, Ondo State, had been arrested but did not give details.
Among those who have reacted lately as the regional security network continued to keep sealed lips on identities of the suspected killers it arrested was the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), a foremost Nigeria’s Islamic rights group, which asked the Amotekun commander to reveal the identities of those arrested.
MURIC made the request in a statement signed by the director of the organisation, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Wednesday, 29th June, 2022.
The statement reads: “The Commander of the Amotekun security outfit in Ondo State, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, last week reported that those who killed 40 church worshippers in Owo, Ondo State, have been arrested.
“We hereby call on the Amotekun commander to reveal the identities of those arrested because Nigerians are eager to know them. We are eager to see the faces of those heartless human beings. Concealing their identities will not help matters because Nigerians have been on the tip-toes of expectation since seven days ago when their arrest was first announced.
“However, we are disturbed by reports that the police said they did not know about the arrest. We advise both Amotekun and the police to work in synergy. Only thus can we overcome our security challenges.”
It will be recalled how kidnapping and killings blamed on Fulani in Ekiti State turned to be evils perpetrated by Ekiti-born criminals who were kidnapping people, including the oil magnate Alhaji Sulaiman Akinbami, for ransoms and killing some in the process and doing all of those killings under the disguise of Fulani herdsmen.
