Former Deputy Director-General of the State Security Service and ex-Chairman of the Oyo State Amotekun Corps, Brig.-Gen. Kunle Togun (retd.), speaks with WALE AKINSELURE on rising insecurity in the South-West, the effectiveness of regional security efforts, and his controversial views on the forces driving banditry and insurgency in the region
Tou have repeatedly warned about the infiltration of Yoruba land by terrorists, bandits and insurgents. Recently, there was the abduction of teachers and students in Oyo State. As a former Director of Military Intelligence and ex-Chairman of Amotekun in Oyo State, how serious is the security threat in the South-West today?
As you said, I have been shouting, I have been complaining to people, but nobody listened. You said I was Director of Military Intelligence, yes; after that, I was Deputy Director-General of the SSS. The training I had with taxpayers’ money gave me the opportunity and chance to analyse security. I saw this coming, and I have been shouting since 2014. It was that year that the Yoruba Council of Elders invited me to deliver a lecture on security. I gave the lecture in Ibadan, at their headquarters in Old Bodija. At that time, I told them that trouble was coming, fighting was coming. That was the time I joined the Yoruba Council of Elders. But last year, in 2025, they complained that I was no longer attending meetings. I said, “ You sit down, organise lectures, invite people to come and give you security analyses, but you are not taking action. Some months back, somebody from YCE in Ekiti called me and said, “General, these bandits have started attacking the Yoruba in Kwara.” I asked, “Are there Yoruba in Kwara?” The man was shocked. He said, “How can you say that?” I said yes, because you cannot tell me you are not aware of the fact that several top Kwara indigenes told the whole world that they were not Yoruba, that they were Northerners. There is another popular man from Okene, Kogi. He even became Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum. He was saying they were not Yoruba, they were Northerners. They said Kwara would not affiliate with the South-West because they were not Yoruba. Nobody was talking. So, I told that man, as far as I’m concerned, there are no Yoruba in Kwara until they prove they are Yoruba. Talking about security in the South-West, I have been shouting. I was Chairman of Amotekun in Oyo State; I analysed the threats to Oyo State. I extracted them from my analysis of the threats to Yoruba land. I gave it to the Commandant in Oyo State, Lt. Col. Olayinka Olayanju. Everybody believes every soldier is a security expert. I analysed everything, identified the threats to Oyo State, and what he should do when operations started. A copy of my letter was sent to Governor Seyi Makinde. But I got no cooperation from them.
