Adams called on the Federal Government to approve the creation of state police, arguing that the current centralised policing structure has failed to tackle the country’s growing security challenges.

Gani Adams, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, has warned that the South-West security outfit, Amotekun Corps, has become politicised, saying insecurity in Nigeria is gradually turning into a “business venture.”

Speaking in an interview with Vanguard on Saturday, Adams also called on the Federal Government to approve the creation of state police, arguing that the current centralised policing structure has failed to tackle the country’s growing security challenges.

He said the worsening insecurity showed that government efforts alone were not enough, stressing that collaboration among stakeholders was necessary to secure the South-West and Nigeria as a whole.

Adams said, “I think the situation is getting out of hand as the government is not providing any solution to it. As one of the stakeholders and the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, I have written to the South-West governors for collaboration, I have called the attention of the media in various fora and I have held a press conference on this issue that there should be collaboration.

Security is not the duty of the government alone, all hands must be on deck so that the South-West and Nigeria in general will be secure.”

He argued that state police would help reduce insecurity if properly funded and structured through collaboration between state and local governments.

According to him, “Another option is the state police. Every community is under a local government and if we can recruit people from the local government, this issue of insecurity will be reduced.

The federal government should approve state police. There can be collaboration between the state and local government so as to conveniently fund state police. Local governments can contribute 40 per cent from their allocation while the state will contribute 60 per cent.”

Adams dismissed concerns that state police could be abused by governors for political purposes, saying such arguments had been used for decades while the country remained unsafe.

He said, “That is the excuse people have been giving for more than 30 years and we are living in an unsafe country. Are you telling me that the Federal Government has not been using the federal police for political interest, especially during elections?”

The Yoruba leader also criticised the implementation of Amotekun, saying the recruitment process had become highly politicised, except during the first exercise in Oyo State.

He said, “Even the recruitment into the Amotekun that we agitated for has been highly politicised. It was only the first recruitment, especially in Oyo State, that was less politicised, but others have been highly politicised.

Some state actors have seen it as a place to give employment to their political followers. The issue of security must not be like that because it is a matter of life and death.”

Adams also raised concern over attacks on traditional rulers, revealing that about seven monarchs had been killed in the South-West and Yoruba-speaking areas of Kwara State.

He said, “I am highly worried. The terrorists have so far killed about seven monarchs in the South-West and some Yoruba-speaking states in Kwara.”

He added that insecurity had spread to major cities in the region, including Ibadan and parts of Ogun State, while kidnappings had also been reported in the riverine communities of Epe and Ibeju-Lekki.

According to him, “It is not only northerners that are involved. There are some people in the South-East and some Yoruba who connive with them. It is an agenda. Some things that happen in Lagos are like a business.”

Adams further disclosed that he had written to South-West governors twice, urging them to collaborate with security groups already on ground, but received little response.

He said, “I have written letters to the governors twice urging them to collaborate. I told them that I have no fewer than 30 groups on the ground that can collaborate with the government to reduce insecurity.”

He added that a Yoruba Security Conference held in Lagos last year, attended by 33 groups including Afenifere and the Yoruba Council of Elders, produced a 14-point communiqué on security, but authorities did not respond.

Warning against continued inaction, Adams said urgent steps must be taken to avoid further deterioration of the security situation ahead of the 2027 election.

He said, “Must we wait until they kill us like chickens before the election of 2027?”

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