{"id":1325,"date":"2026-03-14T10:22:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T10:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/?p=1325"},"modified":"2026-03-14T10:22:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T10:22:25","slug":"when-six-states-in-nigerias-south-west-zone-came-together-in-january-2020-to-create-amotekun-a-regional-security-outfit-to-confront-social-ills-spreading-across-the-region-they-weren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/2026\/03\/14\/when-six-states-in-nigerias-south-west-zone-came-together-in-january-2020-to-create-amotekun-a-regional-security-outfit-to-confront-social-ills-spreading-across-the-region-they-weren\/","title":{"rendered":"When six states in Nigeria\u2019s South-West zone came together in January 2020 to create Amotekun, a regional security outfit to confront social ills spreading across the region, they weren\u2019t reinventing the wheel, despite the political fanfare."},"content":{"rendered":"\n    <div class=\"xs_social_share_widget xs_share_url before_content \t\tmain_content  wslu-style-1 wslu-share-box-shaped wslu-fill-colored wslu-none wslu-share-horizontal wslu-theme-font-no wslu-main_content\">\n\n\t\t\n        <ul>\n\t\t\t        <\/ul>\n    <\/div> \n\n<p>They were re-enacting a past that seemed so far back it had been forgotten altogether \u2013 a policing structure that died in 1966, after the Unification Decree abolished Nigeria\u2019s federalism. That decree consolidated political, social and economic structures into a single chain of command and control, following the termination of the First Republic in a military coup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once Upon a Refuge<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is noteworthy that when Majors Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Chukwuma Nzeogwu and co. struck, the most senior military officer at the time, Major-General Aguiyi-Ironsi, took refuge not at any army barracks but at the Police Headquarters in Lagos, from where he plotted a counter-offensive. The Police were that resourced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That coup officially marked<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-03-14-at-10.53.03-AM-1-1024x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1326\" srcset=\"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-03-14-at-10.53.03-AM-1-1024x1024.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-03-14-at-10.53.03-AM-1-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-03-14-at-10.53.03-AM-1-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-03-14-at-10.53.03-AM-1-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-03-14-at-10.53.03-AM-1.jpeg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They were re-enacting a past that seemed so far back it had been forgotten altogether \u2013 a policing structure that died in 1966, after the Unification Decree abolished Nigeria\u2019s federalism. That decree consolidated political, social and economic structures into a single chain of command and control, following the termination of the First Republic in a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1327,"href":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325\/revisions\/1327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neptuneprime.com.ng\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}