With the organisation's fourth anniversary approaching, the absence of official documentation has sparked concerns.
Members of the Ondo State Amotekun Corps have voiced frustrations about the lack of formal appointment letters, despite their prolonged service.
With the organisation's fourth anniversary approaching, the absence of official documentation has sparked concerns.
The issue has been linked to the Amotekun leadership's alleged desire to maintain secrecy regarding the accurate number of personnel, potentially to evade government oversight.
According to sources, allegations of embezzlement have surfaced within the Amotekun Corps. Sources close to the matter have expressed concern about the lack of official appointment and confirmation letters for corps members, who daily put their lives at risk.
They attribute this to alleged neglect by the current government, leading to low morale among the corps members.
Additional findings reveal that while other states provided palliative payments to their Amotekun corps, the Ondo State government allegedly neglected to do so, potentially due to the absence of official appointment and confirmation letters for members of the security outfit. Sources have cautioned that neglecting the welfare of Amotekun operatives during this critical period may have severe consequences.
According to the budget performance report, the Amotekun Corps’ expenditure in the first quarter of 2024 amounted to N674 million. A further review of the budget reveals that in 2023, the state allocated N1.5 billion to the Amotekun corps out of a total budget of N2.7 billion. In 2022, the state spent N1.45 billion on the corps.
Commandant Adeleye Adetunji of the Ondo State Amotekun Corps declined to comment on the allegations regarding the non-issuance of appointment letters to members of the security outfit in Ondo State.
Instead, he stated that the state is currently working on harmonising the salary scheme for members of Amotekun Corps in conjunction with other states.
He also noted that the recruitment process for Amotekun differs from traditional civil service recruitment procedures. Commandant Adetunji invited SaharaReporters to visit Ondo State for a more in-depth understanding of the issues at hand.
“The recruitment process for the Amotekun being a paramilitary organisation is different from that of other civil service organisations. We are however trying to have a harmonised salary scale for Amotekun officials in Ondo and some other states,” the Amotekun commander told SaharaReporters.
Ondo State Commissioner for Information, Wale Akinlosotu, refuted claims that the state had failed to pay allowances to Amotekun officials or neglected the group's members. He emphasised that the state has met its financial commitments to the Amotekun Corps and is not indebted to them.
“The state government sees the service of Amotekun Corps as important, and as such does not owe allowances or any form of money to the Amotekun,” he said.