PRIMATE: DON’T SCRAP AMOTEKUN

Primate Elijah Ayodele, the fiery head of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, has fired a prophetic salvo at the Nigerian federal government, imploring it to shelve any plans to dismantle the South-West’s beleaguered Amotekun security outfit—lest it unleash a banditry bonanza that could engulf Yorubaland in flames.

In a raw, midnight Facebook live broadcast on November 5, 2025—clocking in at the witching hour—Ayodele, clad in his signature white robes and flanked by flickering candles, didn’t mince words.

“This is a divine alert to the powers that be: scrapping Amotekun is a green light for hoodlums to run riot,” he thundered, his voice a gravelly rumble that cut through the static. “They’re corrupt, yes—riddled with graft and infighting—but abolition? That’s not reform; that’s suicide. Hate the messenger if you must; the oracle speaks bitter truths.”

The cleric’s urgency stems from mounting pressures on Amotekun, the regional vigilante force birthed in 2020 amid herdsmen clashes and kidnappings that exposed federal policing’s porous reach.

Recent scandals—alleged extortion rackets in Oyo, command tussles in Ondo, and a damning ICPC probe into ghost payrolls—have fueled Abuja’s whispers of a nationwide overhaul, with some APC hawks eyeing its dissolution to centralize control under the Nigeria Police.

Differentiating his “prophetic lens” from mere mortal strategizing, Ayodele urged a rebuild over a wrecking ball: “A shaky edifice demands buttressing, not bulldozing. Fortify Amotekun with clean leadership and federal synergy—don’t hand the keys to chaos.”