Police in Oyo and the Western Nigeria Security Network Agency, popularly known as Amotekun, on Tuesday, disagreed over the handling of suspects arrested by the operatives of the state security outfit.
Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Chris Enwonwu, quoted in a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Olugbenga Fadeyi, alleged that Amotekun had brought badly injured suspect who could not be taken into custody to the police.
Enwonwu said the police would not longer accept to keep suspects in bad shape in their custody because such suspects could die.
But Commandant of Amotekun, Col. Olayinka Olayanju (retd), said that the police was lying, challenging them to provide evidence to back their claims.
The police statement quoted the commissioner as saying, “It has got to the attention of the Commissioner of Police that some suspects arrested and brought to the station by other security operatives are usually brought in terrible health/bad conditions not admissible for detention.
“A case to buttress the above is an incident reported at Igboora Police Station involving one Alhaji Umoru Salihu and Amotekun operatives, who reportedly stormed Alhaji Umoru’s residence. They were alleged to have, as the report read ‘shot sporadically into the air and carted away the sum of N350,000 from him and an undisclosed amount from his wives before whisking two of his boys away to the nearest police station.”
“One of the boys was shot before being brought to the station where he was denied admission into the detention facility for obvious reasons of being medically unfit. He was thereafter taken to the hospital where he died on admission. ”
But the Amotekun commandant in his response, explained that at times residents in some community would have attacked and battered suspects before his men would get to the scene.
Olayanju said, “I disagree with the police on this. Sometimes, people in the community would have battered suspects before our men would get there to rescue them in order to prevent jungle justice.
“Let the police provide evidence to substantiate their assertion.”
But a group, Yoruba Youth Socio-Cultural Association Worldwide, has urged the police to shun unhealthy rivalry, saying such would not give the people the best.
YYA National President, Olalekan Hammemd, said, “We implore Oyo State Police command to shun any form of rivalry with the newly established security outfit, Operation Amotekun.”