The Rotimi Akeredolu administration says 45 Northern youths found coming into Ondo State in a trailer could have been lynched but for the professionalism and maturity of the Amotekun Corps in the state.
Commissioner for Information and Orientation in the state, Donald Ojogo explained this on Sunday.
In the Thursday evening incident, the 45 Northern youths were discovered by the Amotekun Corps in Okitipupa, the headquarters of Okitipupa Local Government Area of the state.
When interrogated, they were said to have claimed that they were in Ondo for private security training in the army barracks in Okitipupa.
However, the soldiers at the barracks rejected their claims, noting that there was no signal to back up the claim.
The Akeredolu administration has ordered their repatriation to their home states.
“The security situation we found ourselves in the last 72 hours was a very precarious one. If not that it was discretely and professionally handled and well managed by officials of government, particularly Amotekun Commander and SSA on security, the situation would have degenerated to the extent of lynching and jungle justice.
“What government is trying to do today (Sunday) is to ensure that the way they came to the state, they will leave the state safely, peacefully and unhurt, so that when they get to their various states, they will also testify to their state government and their people that the movement that brought them to Ondo State was an unclear one and the state government had to protect them and move them back to their state,” Ojogo said.
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The commissioner quoted Governor Akeredolu as directing government officials to desist from making public statements on security situations.
Meanwhile, the Commander of the Amotekun Corps, Chief Adetunji Adeleye, paraded the 45 travellers in Akure.
He said that the men, who hailed from Kano and Jigawa States, were suspected to be Fulani invaders as their explanation on their reason for coming to the state appeared to be a ruse.
“In the last three days, there have been issues relating to the invasion of the state by alleged Fulani men. So, we monitored and we found out that they converged on the front of the army barracks in Okitipupa.
“They were there for a couple of hours and at that point, we tried to find out what their mission is. But because they couldn’t give satisfactory explanations, we moved them to our local office first in Okitipupa to try to debrief them, and from the debriefing at Okitipupa, we had to move them to the state headquarters for proper debriefing,” Adeleye said.
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