Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has taken on Balarabe Musa, former governor of Old Kaduna State for saying the establishment of Amotekun security outfit by Southwest governors was a ploy to create Oduduwa Republic.
Akeredolu maintained that Musa made the remark against the Southwest out of “ignorance.”
Musa, while making the remark had warned that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government must not allow the operation of such a security network, stressing that it falls out of the established laws of the country.
He warned that it was a ploy to secure Yoruba land and a prelude to the declaration of Oduduwa Republic.
Reacting, Akeredolu, while addressing journalists yesterday in Abuja stressed that the Northern elder-statesman misunderstood the idea behind the launch of Amotekun.
He said: “Balarabe Musa spoke out of ignorance. That is the way I see it because he is a respected leader. We all have respect for him and from his days in NEPU and PRP, till when he was impeached as governor, he was a progressive person, and he is still a progressive person. I am sure maybe he was misquoted. For me, such views from him were unnecessary.
“It is not possible. In my speech at the launch of Amotekun, I was very clear that this is not a regional army or regional paramilitary and that it is collaborative and that all we want to do is to ensure that our forests and other places, we have men who can go in to arrest these bandits and help the Police in their work.
“I remember I said something there that this nation has come to stay, if only for one reason, for my sake it must stay. So, my wife, that is Ibo, if they want to break this country, where would my children go? My wife is Igbo, so where would my own children go? I believe in this country totally.
“However, we are committed to restructuring this country. We are not going to say because of Amotekun, we should not restructure; this country must be restructured. We have said so openly, it is there in the All Progressives Congress (APC) constitution and part of our manifesto. Restructuring was stated clearly that we would do it.
“Why we have not done it, nobody knows, but we have to. But there have been some efforts to restructure. We can give it to the President, at least, let him take the credit, there have been some efforts at restructuring in one way or the other. So, restructuring is not something we can compromise.
“That is the only way for this country. We can’t continue this way. The country is hydra-headed and everybody must feel a sense of belonging and the only way is for us to carry out this restructuring.”
