Nnamdi Kanu backs Operation Amotekun saying 1m Ipob members will serve in the outfit

INDIGENOUS People of Biafra (Ipob) leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has thrown his full weight behind the new regional security outfit in southwest Nigeria Operation Amotekun saying 1m of his members will serve in the body.

Over recent years, heavily-armed herdsmen have been running riot across southwestern Nigeria, engaging in kidnapping, armed robbery and banditry. To address the problem, the governors from across the geo-political zone decided to launch a regional security outfit named Amotekun, which translates to leopard in the local Yoruba language.

Within the last fortnight, the six governors have supplied Operation Amotekun with vehicles and equipment. Under the arrangements drawn up, the governments of the six states will train vigilantes, hunters and members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) to provide security to provide intelligence for the official security services like the police, military and civil defence corps.

Governors from other parts of Nigeria have declared that they too are considering launching similar regional outfits to Operation Amotekun. In a dramatic twist, Ipob, which is campaigning for the creation of an independent state in the Igbo-speaking southeastern geo-political zone has now thrown its weight behind Operation Amotekun too.

Mazi Kanu, who commended southwest governors for setting up the security outfit, assured that Ipob members were ready to support Operation Amotekun with all their might. He added Ipob would provide 1m men to serve in Operation Amotekun alongside the hunters and vigilantes who have already volunteered.

 “The final and definitive stance of the Biafran people is that Ipob will support Operation Amotekun with all our might. Regardless of the history of politics of treachery that may have existed between the east and the west in the past, our leaders have sworn to work with this generation of Yoruba leadership with the likes of Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Yinka Odumakin, Femi Fani-Kayode and Omoyele Sowore at the helm.

“I will support this generation of Yorubas that set up Amotekun and Ipob will work with them. If they want 1m men, I will give them to make sure the Fulani Caliphate murderous expansionism is stopped.

"We will support the Yorubas in all forms and by every means necessary, to hell with the Fulanis. Ipob will back the Amotekun security outfit, which is not going anywhere. They are here to stay and Ipob will support them."