By SEGUN AYINDE, ABEOKUTA
The Labour Party in Ogun State has urged residents of the state to stop feigning ignorance on the reason the immediate past governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, procured the arms and ammunition, which were reportedly handed over to the police at the expiration of his second term in office.
An online newspaper, Premium Times, had reported that Amosun surrendered a total of 1,000 Ak47 rifles, four million bullets, 1000 bullet proof vests and one Armoured Personnel Carrier that he allegedly kept at the Oke-Mosan Government House in Abeokuta.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Abeokuta, the Chairman of LP in Ogun State, Mr. Abayomi Arabambi, said that Amosun did not keep the arms and ammunition for self-serving purposes, stating that they were meant for the security of the state.
According to him, the state government under the former governor acquired the arms and ammunition with the approval of the office of the National Security Adviser for the police to combat crime and criminality in the state.
He said, “People should stop displaying ignorance on the arms handover. What former governor Amosun did was the practice by state governments, who have expended resources in empowering the police.
“They normally secure approval from the Office of the National Security Adviser to allow states expand their resources in order to empower the police to have standard armoury and such are warehoused at government houses.
“The state will then supervise the use of the gadgets acquired with their resources to prevent same from being moved to other parts of the country. If those weapons are left in the police armoury, the IG can deploy it to other areas and no commissioner of police will disobey that order.”
