The Osun State Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun, in on Monday clarified that the over 100 youths of Northern extraction sighted in Osu, along Ife-Ilesa Expressway last week were not bandits.
Residents of the community have raised alarm when some northerners, numbering over 100, were sighted on motorcycles last week in Osu, headquarters of Atakumosa-West Local Government Area of the state.
Also, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams while speaking over the weekend said people sighted in Osu were suspected to be bandits.
Reacting to the alarm, the Amotekun Corp Commandant in Osun, Brigadier-General Bashir Adewinmbi (retd), said: “It is true some persons of northern extraction, numbering about 100, were sighted on motorcycles traveling from Lagos state to the northern part of the country.
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“However, we were told that they were bandits. We moved to the area, arrested all of them for questioning and after hours of interrogation, we discovered that they were traveling towards the north without intention to settle in any forest in the state, so, we had to release them.
“Although, the people have the right to be vigilant, but we should not raise unnecessary alarm to create panic among the teeming populace. We remain vigilante and we would not allow our people fall to the destructive tendency of bandits.”