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Tag: amotekun

  • BREAKING: FG, Southwest Governors reach agreement on Amotekun

    BREAKING: FG, Southwest Governors reach agreement on Amotekun

    Nigeria’s Federal Government and Southwest Governors on Thursday reached an agreement on Operation Amotekun.

    This was revealed by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on his twitter handle on Thursday.

    Laolu wrote: “News Flash: FG, Southwest Governors agree on Amotekun.”

    However, he did not give details of the agreement reached with the Southwest Governors at the meeting.

    Osinbajo had met with Southwest governors in Abuja over the setting up of a regional security outfit, Operation Amotekun.

    Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu, were also at the meeting.

    Malami had said the establishment of the outfit was illegal and unconstitutional as the issue of security was the exclusive preserve of the Federal Government as laid down in the nation’s constitution.

    Since Malami made the statement, outrage has greeted the pronouncement across Southwest. Several bigwigs in Southwest had kicked against Malami’s pronouncement.

    Also, protests had rocked Southwest states in defiant to Malami’s statement, while Miyetti Allah has consistently attacked Southwest leaders for insisting on Amotekun, saying that the zone might lose 2023 presidency for this singular act.

    Prof. Wole Soyinka had said Amotekun had come to stay, saying such an outfit was needed in a Southwest zone raved by insecurity.

    National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, while backing the establishment of Amotekun called for dialogue to resolve the difference.

  • No going back: Amotekun is illegal – Malami

    Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami on Thursday insisted that the establishment of the Southwest security outfit, Operation Amotekun, is illegal and has no place in the constitution.

    Malami, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Dr. Umar Gwandu, said the Federal Government would not bat an eye due to sentiment being displayed by people on the matter.

    According to him, no amount of effort to hide the truth would work, saying that people could be carried away by sentimental or emotional inclinations, but that the truth remained apparently palpable.

    He said the bottom line was that the current Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria did not accommodate formation of regional security architecture.

    “This is a fact which is undisputable and undeniable. Mr. Falana was prevaricating and circumlocuting using evasive techniques when he was asked by the media to justify the presence of lacuna within the law which could establish or protect the concept of regionalism in any operation in the country.

    “This arrangement called Amotekun is not backed by any law neither at the State nor at the Federal Government level. Amotekun, therefore, remains unconstitutional and illegal as already indicated,” he stated.

    The Attorney General added that the Federal Government appreciated that legally-minded Nigerians had started to eschew emotions by offering legal comments on the matter as against being carried away by other inclinations.

    He said his office was committed to the rule of law and a constitutional democratic Federal Republic of Nigeria.

  • Amotekun: Tinubu spoke with both sides of his mouth

    Amotekun: Tinubu spoke with both sides of his mouth

    By Bola Bolawole

    With due respect to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, his statement on Amotekun, which has been deliberatively crafted, is a classic case of speaking from both sides of the mouth.

    He approbates and reprobates at same time, trying to please both sides of a yawning divide. It was effectively a political statement, which might not have come from his soul. I agree that he should have looked before he lept. But I disagree that Amotekun is Neighborhood Watch.

    Nigeria is in a more precarious state today than it was during Tinubu’s days as governor. So Amotekun without arms will be mere Boys’ Scout on parade. That will not address the existential problem that confronts the South-west today. Amotekun must bear arms.

    Tinubu neglected to comment on other para-military forces like Hisbah, Civilian JTF in the North bearing arms. Why are they not causing jitters to Federal authorities but Amotekun is?

    Why is Amotekun the ones to be disarmed or will the others also stop or end bearing arms? These are the lacuna in Tinubu’s well crafted speech. So, it is not only the Southwest governors that must go back to the drawing board on Amotekun, Tinubu’s speechwriters should similarly do!

  • Amotekun: Buhari, APC have failed to secure Nigeria – PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the setting up of a joint security outfit, Amotekun, by governors of the six states in the Southwest, was an indication of vote of no confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari’s handling of the security situation in the country.

    In a statement on Wednesday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said it arrived at that conclusion after a wide consultation and extensive meeting on the security situation in the country.

    “Failure to take a decisive step to stem the escalated wave of killings by insurgents; the refusal to rejig the security high command and a lack of commitment to track down and prosecute even confessed perpetrators of mindless killings, are all pointers that the Buhari-led APC administration cannot guarantee the security of lives and property in our nation”, the PDP declared.

    It also noted that the failure of the Federal Government to prosecute the war against acts of terrorism beyond lip service and condolence statements had emboldened the killers.

    The party further noted that the grave security situation has degenerated to execution of Nigerians, the latest being the recent gruesome beheading of the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in Adamawa, Rev. Lawan Andimi.

    “The execution of Rev. Andimi is heartrending and like other killings, remains a sad commentary of the inability of a government to stand for its citizens at very crucial moments”, the party said.

    The PDP recalled that the Federal Government had failed to prosecute the masterminds of the mass killings in Benue, Nasarawa, Bauchi, Taraba, Kogi, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Ekiti and other parts of the country.

    Continuing, the party said, “Moreover, the body language, brazen acts of nepotism as well as divisive and incendiary comments by officials in the Buhari administration have continued to fuel disunity, acts of violence and insecurity in various parts of our nation.

    “Given the failure of the Buhari administration to guarantee the essential of government, which is the security of lives and property, Nigerians across board, as homes, communities, groups, towns, even states and regions are now organising their respective security apparatuses such as Amotekun in the South West and several others in various parts of the country, to guarantee their safety.

    “The situation would not have degenerated to this level if the Buhari Presidency is living up to its billing on security, including listening to wise counsel by well-meaning Nigerians to rejig his security high command”.

    The main opposition party said it’s clear that the security of lives and property in the nation has gone beyond what the “insensitive, divisive and incompetent” Buhari administration can guarantee.

    “Indeed, our nation has come to a stage where any genuine assistance that can be provided by states and even communities in securing lives and property should be integrated. The situation requires the collaboration of all, including the federating states.

    “Furthermore, the PDP remains committed to all efforts toward national cohesion, security, peace, stability of our nation and all federating units in a manner that promotes good governance and national cohesion at all times”, the party added.

  • Amotekun as catalyst to decide future of Nigeria – Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    At times like this, in Nigeria’s critical journey of voyage of discovery into a dark ally of identification; reminiscing on the late Nigerian musical icon – Sunny Okosu’s lyric: which way Nigeria becomes a necessary inevitability.

    Amotekun, having suddenly becoming a qualitative catalyst, may be able to help us in identifying that essential of discovering Nigeria.

    l am not a Chemist, and l must not pretend to know anything about chemistry, as such l shall not attempt making incursion into defining what a catalyst is. It is for that reason that I will limit my understanding of the word catalyst to how dictionary defines it.
    A catalyst is defined as “a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change”, e.g “chlorine acts as a catalyst promoting the breakdown of ozone”. It is also defined to mean “a person or thing that precipitates an event”, e.g “the prime minister’s speech acted as a catalyst for debate”.

    For the reason of the latter [definition] a catalyst [or the chemical in question] remains an “accelerator” or a “changer”, while it remains unchanged – simply and purely.
    It is on the face of these definitions that Amotekun can be seen as the needed catalyst the Nigerian federation has been waiting for in other to [the federation] adjusts, re-adjusts, structures or even restructures itself.

    Amotekun is now the game changer for restructuring the Nigerian loose federated fabrics. First, what is Amotekun and how did we arrive this point in our journey to an elusive federation?

    To go into historical journey of the Nigerian federation’s development from the very beginning would be a cumbersome exercise for now because of a few militating factors. One, and most essential of them, is the fact of wrong historical documentation about the time and place the foundation of this Enterprise [Nigeria] was laid.

    The history of that monumental beginning is highly distorted and ambitiously falsified by foreigners, who recorded what they called “our history” for us.

    That ambiguity is the reason why the year when the “foundation of this area of Niger” was laid remains elusive for historical balancing. But for the purpose of this exercise, let us run with one version of the falsified thesis of when Nigerian federation began – it means we have to agree, loosely too, that it was either 1914 or 1960. The amalgamation of 1914, which was ironically carried out by some “trader-foreigners” [purely for their economic interests] on behalf of the aborigine, again, “around this area of the Niger”, brought together the South and North Protectorates. How that amalgamation amounted to federalism remains an elusive and mischievous aspect of historical documentation.

    Now, let us fast-track the narration to 1960. Of course, we had Nigerian natives; educated enough in the game of politics and politicking. These participated in the volatile field; laid with political dynamites, of negotiation. That negotiation brought us into the system of Federalism and this was “a proper fiscally structured federalism”. Each of the participating regions had everything exclusively to itself except in three major functions, to wit: foreign policy, currency and armament, which were ceded to the Power at the Central, voluntarily. There was resource control of everything. Let me not waste time in elucidating all these as most of us – the older generation – witnessed it.

    This fine structure was bastardised by the Military – demons that came in form of angels, and the beautiful federal structure was discarded along with its comely democratic ethos. The same military, in furtherance of its pretense, eliminated one of its very bests; Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi MVO, MBE (3 March 1924 – 29 July 1966), Supreme Commander, on the allegation that, by “Unification Decree Number 34 of May 24, 1966” [known as Decree 1, dated January 17, 1966, but not published in the Official Gazette until March 4, 1966] by the latter [Aguiyi-Ironsi], Nigeria’s structure was distorted, from being a Federation to Unitary system of government. That was the countercoup of July 28, 1966 that brought Yakubu Gowon to power.

    The “properly federated system of government” which the counter-coup pretended to reinstall remains invasive till date as what Nigeria practices since then is unitary system of government, but not without “killing every glorious facets” of federalism. The federal government’s hijacking of all benefits, hitherto belonging to the regions, resulted into impoverishing of all social services the Nigerian people enjoyed under an entrenched fiscally prosecuted federalism – security of lives and properties of the citizenry inclusive.

    It is no gainsaying that lives and properties of the Nigerian people is far from being secured by the Nigerian State’s apparatus of security. Like some hotels where a warning signboard tells patronizing quests that “cars are parked at owners’ risk”, Nigerians, either moving about around the country or remaining at their individuals’ home, do so at “the risk of their lives”. There is no more respect for the security agencies, mostly the Nigeria Police Force, because there are no performances from them – the security agencies. And if the truth is to be told, Nigerians have resulted into self-securing enclave long time ago.

    It is this vote of no-confidence passed on the federal government’s security agencies, particularly the Police, which resulted into creation and sustenance of different security outfits across the country. In the North-East, the federal government, through effective collaboration with some State governments in that region and the Military, had to create and integrate services of hunters and other young people [known as Civilian Joint Task Force] to be able to battle the Boko Haram insurgency. The same federal government sustains them in salaries and issuance of arms and ammunition to keep them [the civilian JTF] going well at theatre of military operations. Without the innovation of bringing this people into the war, whatever gains of “decimating” the insurgents in the North-East wouldn’t have been recorded.

    There are many other civilian “protective forces” around the country today. Bakassi at a time secured the South-East. Egbesu Boys helped much in the actualization of the Niger Delta people [South-South]’s struggle against federal government forces of oppression. Vigilantism is enterprisingly patronized by different governments across the country. Lagos State established the Neighbourhood Watch some years ago. And of course, many States across the North have the Sharia Police Formation known as Hisbah Corps. All these are complimentary to the unfulfilling police organization in Nigeria but not antigonising to it, and more importantly is the fact that all these locally arranged security outfits are “not defending territories”, but instead “complimenting the police in securing lives and properties”.
    It is on the light of these facts that the Western Nigeria Security Network – Amotekun, made its grandiose, stylish and triumphant entry into the arena of securing lives and properties, just like many other ones mentioned above. Then suddenly, a “sleeping” Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice; who had never made any negative pronouncement against Amotekun’s numerous predecessors, woke up to speak of illegality. Something like “oil must be under the water”, as the adage goes amongst the Urhobo speaking people of the Niger Delta. Let us run the summary very quickly.

    Of recent the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore; the umbrella body for Fulani Herdsmen [both the killer militia and the peaceful ones] all over West Africa, has emerged, not only as the political power broker for Northern Nigeria, having successfully dethroned the once vibrant Arewa Consultative Forum, but has positioned itself adequately, without contradiction, as the most effective mouthpiece of the federal government of Nigeria.

    The Miyetti Allah has succeeded into almost taking the entire country into captivity through the terrible way it unleashed deadly terror across the land – this is not controvertible. It once addressed a world press conference and declared it loudly that it will never obey the anti-open grazing law made by the Benue State House of Assembly. And most recently, the Association announced it to the whole world that the Fulani Herdsmen from other countries “don’t need visa to enter Nigeria”. The AGF did not say a word to counter the Miyetti Allah’s audacious pronouncement in illegality.

    Until the metaphor of Amotekun, the fear of Fulani Herdsmen; seemingly well protected by the federal government, had almost become the beginning of wisdom in Nigeria by Nigerians [except the Fulani tribe].

    The methodology and pattern of Amotekun’s entry into “securing the lost security of the people of the South-West geopolitical zone” is a pointer to a manifestation of a phenomenal with difference in Nigeria.

    Amotekun emergence, with whatever flaws of omission or commission by the propagators or conveners; flaws that can easily be rectified as the “masquerade dances towards the market square”, has become the needed catalyst to deciding the future of Nigeria. And Amotekun; the catalyst, has come to stay.
    End of story!

    Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.
    Contact:
    Twitter: @godwin_buebu
    Facebook: Godwin Etakibuebu
    Facebook Page: Veteran Column
    Phone: +234-906-887-0014 – short messages only.
    You can also listen to this author [Godwin Etakibuebu] every Monday; 9:30 – 11am on Lagos Talk 91.3 FM live, in a weekly review of topical issues, presented by The News Guru [TNG].

  • Falana urges governors to enact laws for operation of Amotekun

    Falana urges governors to enact laws for operation of Amotekun

    Activist-Lawyer Femi Falana has advised Southwest governors to enact laws to legitimise Operation Amotekun.

    In a statement in Lagos on Tuesday, Falana urged the governors to forward a bill to the Houses of Assembly of their respective states for the establishment of Amotekun.

    The statement said: “In the absence of an enabling legal instrument for the establishment, structure, functions, control, funding and Operation of Amotekun, the various interest groups have continued to express divergent views on the needless controversy that has trailed the official inauguration of the security outfit.

    “On their own part, the south west governors have been assuring the Federal Government that Amotekun is not a regional paramilitary organisation but a zonal security outfit being set up to assist the Police and other security agencies in combating incessant killings, kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes that are on the ascendancy due in the region due to the negligence of the federal government to effectively police the country.

    “Apart from those who are strenuously opposed to Amotekun, the concerned people in the Southwest who have embraced the security initiative are entitled to know the law setting it up. “

    “Therefore, the attorneys-general in the states in the zone should be saddled with the urgent responsibility of ensuring that the enabling laws for amotekun are enacted by the respective houses of assembly without any further delay.

    “The Lagos State Neighbourhood Watch Law coupled with the Lagos State Security Trust Fund Law may be modified or adopted for Amotekun.Once the laws are enacted the federal government will be at liberty to test the constitutional validity of Amotekun in the Supreme Court.

  • Soyinka replies Balarabe Musa over anti-amotekun comments

    Soyinka replies Balarabe Musa over anti-amotekun comments

    Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka on Tuesday tackled former Kaduna State Governor Balarabe Musa over his remarks on the establishment of the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN), code-named Operation Amotekun.

    The literary giant said the former governor erred in his conclusion that the security outfit would lead to the declaration of Oduduwa Republic by the Yoruba.

    In a statement he personally signed, Soyinka said the former Kaduna State governor was leaving in the fear of the harmless since the promoters of the outfit have consistently described it as their contribution to secure the society.

    He said the elder statesman was wrong in his judgment and urged Nigeria to avoid such blunder.

    The statement reads: “Balarabe is sadly, but I hope not tragically wrong. I invoke the tragic dimension here because the making of tragedy, especially for nations, often begins when fears are mistaken, or promoted as facts, and governments either by themselves, or together with interest groups, are enticed by fears into embarking on precipitate, irrational, and irreversible acts. Such acts turn out tin the end to be based on nothing but fears, sometimes generated by guilt over past injustices, such as inequitable dealing.

    “That is the basis of tragedy, towards which nations are propelled by a partial or wrongful reading of socio-political realities and – history. I would like to see this nation avoid such a blunder. So, I am certain, would Balarabe Musa.

    “Raising the spectre of secession is a facile approach to the dangerous, self-evident lapses in governance which Balarabe himself acknowledges in his response to the Amotekun principle made flesh.

    “The midwives of Amotekun have repeatedly acknowledged that theirs is only a contribution towards a crisis of escalating proportions.

    “Other states should be encouraged to emulate, not misread such initiatives, then demonise them by false attributions. That is the certain recipe for tragedy.”

  • Police takeover Amotekun protest in Lagos

    Police takeover Amotekun protest in Lagos

     

    Armed mobile policemen, have taken over Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota, Lagos, proposed venue for a protest code-named “Amotekun Solidarity Walk” organised by Yoruba World Congress.

    The peaceful protest is supposed to take place in all South-West states.

    According to reports, heavy presence of security personnel are noticed in major recreation parks.

    One of the leaders of the group is currently in talk with police while people hang around the venue.

    YWC had called on Yoruba sons and daughters to come out in large numbers on Tuesday to participate in a rally to support Operation Amotekun, a security network recently established by governors of South-West Nigeria to wage war against insecurity across the region.

  • Debate on Amotekun’s legality: Compendium of lawyers views

    Debate on Amotekun’s legality: Compendium of lawyers views

    In the past week, Amotekun, the security initiative by Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Osun and Lagos, states that originated from the defunct Western Region, generated lots of controversies that propped up several topical issues that dominated the national discourse space in Nigeria.

    The Amotekun debate was immediately triggered when the attorney general of the federation, Abubakar Malami, asserted that the setting up of the initiative is illegal, citing specifically that by virtue of item 45 of the second schedule of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, policing and other government security services are on the exclusive list.

    This development, expectedly, did not go down well with many Nigerians and has been a subject of hot debate. Therefore, in this unsolicited but imperative legal opinion, efforts would be made to dissect the legal position of the Federal Government on Amotekun and other ancillary matters arising therefrom.

    While the initiative majorly got praised in the Southern part of Nigeria it has also attracted condemnation from some sections of the country, especially some leaders in the North, who say such arrangement was unconstitutional in a federal state and called for its scraping.

    In this report, TheNewsGuru, (TNG), compiled the views gathered from some notable lawyers to help throw light on the furore over Amotekun’s legality or otherwise. TNG positioned the centre of its compilation to answer the following fundamental questions on Amotekun: The security question and the federalism question.

    Aare Afe Babalola:

    In a statement titled, ‘No law prohibits the establishment of Amotekun,’ Babalola said, “The issue of Amotekun is an issue of public safety and protection of property. There is no law in Nigeria, which prevents citizens from being able to secure their life and property. The Nigeria Police does not enjoy exclusive jurisdiction when it comes to the protection of life and property. As a matter of fact, in many parts of Nigeria, various outfits such as Civilian JTF, Hisbah Police and vigilantes have been performing the duty of protecting life and property.”

    He added: “Given the provisions of the Criminal Code in Sections 272-275, the right of citizens to arrest any person for committing an offence is legal and may be exercised individually or communally. In any event, the regional community security outfit known as Amotekun cannot be set aside by oral pronouncement by the Attorney General or any other body. Only the court of law can declare the establishment illegal.”

    Kunle Edun, publicity secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)

    “In civilised climes, security is everyone’s concern and not the exclusive responsibility of a particular organ of government.”
    He described Amotekun as a good and commendable initiative, noting: “Similar outfits exist in the north and they were reported to have assisted the Nigerian military to stem the tide of armed banditry and insurgent activities.”

    Edun said since the floaters of Amotekun have “promised to work with the official regular security apparatus for proper coordination and collaboration, what is needed now is collaboration and partnership on security between the southwest governors and the Federal Government.”

    Lagos based lawyer, David Fadile
    The Federal Government declaration of the Amotekun as being illegal is in order. There is no law to the best of my understanding which established this group of people known as the Amotekun nor regulate their activities within the South Western States. Society is governed by law and order. Assuming that this security groups misbehave today how do we check their excesses.

    In Lagos for instance, the activities of Lagos State Traffic Management members or groups otherwise known as LASTMA is regulated by the Lagos State Traffic Management Laws of Lagos 2015, same for Neighbourhood watch. Someone should tell me under which specific laws do Amotekun operate. I concede to the argument that the governor is the chief security officer of the state he/she governs but this constitutional provision is not at large. The 1999 constitution Section 214 stipulates that there shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police, and subject to the provision of these sections no other police force shall be established for the Federations or any part thereof. This is the extant law except and until the various Legislative Houses of the South West States legislate Amotekun into existence; their functions remain that of the Nigerian Police.

    Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, PACAC, Prof. Itse Sagay

    “I am positively disposed towards it. I think it is a good beginning not to depend completely on the Federal Government for our security.
    “We should begin to rely more and more on ourselves so that those who feel the pain are those who try to take control of the security situation.
    “We know that the Police are few; they are stretched; we have about 250,000 policemen in a country of almost 200 million. So, I think these regional security institutions are necessary.
    “I believe the police should cooperate with them and help with their training. And I believe eventually, they should even be armed so that we can have a lot more hands and local people involved in security.
    “Perhaps that can lead to other benefits, such as economic cooperation and wealth creation; and gradually, we’ll begin to regain what we lost when we lost the regions in the 60s. So, yes, I support it.
    “It’s not state police. I think the people who created it have been careful. Yes, there is a security outfit, but there is nothing in the Constitution that precludes either states or association of states from taking care of their security.
    “There is this popular saying that the governor is the chief security officer of a state. That’s not an empty statement.
    “They get a lot of money for security, and I look at this as part of the responsibility of the governors acting jointly to provide greater security in the Southwest.”

    Femi Falana (SAN)
    No doubt, section 214 of the Constitution stipulates that there shall be only one police force in Nigeria. But the federal government has breached the Constitution by setting up other police forces. For instance, the Nigerian Security and Defence Corps is another police force established by law. The State Security Service is also a police force established by law. Its operatives are well-armed. They wear masks even in broad daylight. The federal government has also authorised the officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Offences Commission, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Correctional Service and other paramilitary agencies to bear arms. To that extent, the federal government cannot stop any state from setting a security outfit. In fact, having lost control of the monopoly of violence to armed gangs in the various parts of the country the federal government lacks the legal, political and moral right to challenge security outfits set up by state governments and individuals to protect the lives and property of the people of Nigeria.
    It is pertinent to point out that as chief security officers in the respective states, governors have the power to adopt measures deemed fit within the ambit of the law to ensure the maintenance of law and order.

    Chief Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN)
    The Attorney General does not have the power to declare Amotekun illegal. He advised Malami to go to court if he feels strongly about the matter.
    “I see no controversy about this matter. Do I need court pronouncement to engage private security guards and provide them with vehicles and uniforms? There is nothing strange in what the southwest governors did. They can see Malami’s comment as his opinion and not the position of the law, which only the court can interpret.”

    Barr Osigwe Momoh

    The security of lives and property is the principal objective of the state as copiously provided for in Section 14 of the constitution, the function is vested in the states and federal government and by implication, the president and governors of each state.

    However to avoid friction and executive overlaps the constitution has provided and empowered each unit of government each being limited and restricted to the 2nd schedule of the constitution.

    Part one of the 2nd schedule deals with the exclusive list excludes the state government from matters relating to police and military – that being the case, although no budget can be created for this organisation, nothing stops the governor in line with Section 14 of the constitution to empower citizens and organise them in a bid to stem out crimes

    Barr Gloria Ballason

    Amotekun is a creation of the South-West Governors to tackle Kidnapping and other criminal activities.

    The incidents of kidnapping and killings on farms and rural areas by persons often identified as Extremist Fulani herdsmen have particularly become worrisome.

    Curiously, while the International community through the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) has noted its notoriety as the fourth terrorist group in the world with Boko Haram as second, the Nigerian government has not recognized herdsmen Extremism as a terrorist group.

    That in itself is problematic especially in the light of the mind boggling casualties that this group has created in the Middle Belt & South West. It should be a welcome development that the South-West Governors as chief security officers of their states have taken a coordinated action to protect the territory of their influence more so as there is Civilian Joint Task Force in the North-East.

    The Attorney General of the Federation through his declaration of Amotekun as an illegal outfit clearly believes that the South-West Governors have usurped the defence item on the exclusive legislative list.

    I will argue to the contrary more so as the AGF and the Federal Government make no commitment to secure the people from the menace of kidnapping. The AGF can go to court so we can test the legitimacy of Amotekun.

  • Amotekun legal, deeply rooted in 1999 Constitution, Afe Babalola tells FG

    A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Aare Afe Babalola, on Sunday said that any attempt by the Federal Government or its appendages to terminate the South Western Nigeria security outfits code-named ‘Operation Amotekun’ will fail.

    The initiative, according to him, is deeply rooted in the 1999 constitution.

    Babalola spoke on Sunday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, while criticising the APC-led federal government over its pronouncement through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, that the joint security outfit is illegal.

    Malami had last Tuesday announced the federal government’s opposition to the initiative, saying Amotekun was illegal and security was meant to be sole responsibility of the Federal Government.

    The founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti argued that the southwest governors had not erred but only responded to the region yearnings for improved security.

    He said this was necessary since the centralised police system had failed to ensure the safety of the life and property of their people.

    He recalled that kidnapping, armed robbery, herdsmen/farmers clash and other security challenges prompted the formation of Amotekun as a regional response by the governors to clamp down on the heinous activities of security threats in the southwest.

    The legal giant argued further that the governors had the right to protect their people because that was the ultimate responsibility of responsive government, saying Amotekun doesn’t only has its roots in the 1999 Constitution but other previous constitutions.

    He said unfortunately Malami relished on the Article 45 second schedule of the 1999 constitution (amended), that gives to the FG the exclusive power to manage the police and forgot that sections 24, 40, 45 imposes clear responsibility on citizens to ensure security of their lives and property.

    “The Amotekun outfit is a protective and supportive outfit established by the governors of the Southwest. It has its roots in the 1999 Constitution and the previous constitutions before it – 1960, 1963.

    “Section 24 of the constitution provides that ‘it shall be the duty of every citizen to make positive and useful contribution to the advancement, progress and well-being of the community where he resides’. Well-being means security of life and property etc. How many Nigerians realise that they have a duty to assist and to protect the interest of the community and themselves.

    “And Section 40 goes further that ‘every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular, he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests’.

    “When you put these two together, it shows that all of us have the duty to associate whether as Yoruba people or as state people to ensure that lives and properties are safe. The Amotekun outfit has its roots in the constitution. It is constitutional, it is legal and proper,” he said.

    According to him, the Federal Government should rather embrace and key into the initiative instead of trying to kill the laudable initiative, saying “it should immediately thank for what they are doing.

    “If this outfit had been established about 10 years ago, we would not have these issues of kidnapping, killing and other security challenges.

    “We won’t have those who go to the farms to kill people because they would be fished out. That is why the constitution says that such outfit should report to the police.

    “What I have just said is that it is to support the police, support the government in their duty to ensure that there is peace, there is safety of property, safety of lives. It is a good idea. It is belated but it is lawful and constitutional.

    “All that the AGF said is that Article 45 of the constitution, second schedule gives to the FG the exclusive power to manage the police, he did not say that sections 20, 40 and 45 are abrogated. They cannot abrogate it.

    “The sections I have quoted are superior to the schedule he is talking about and in any event, the governors have not set up a parallel police outfit, what they have done is to set up a supportive and protective organ to assist the police and in their communiqué, they said it would report to the police.

    “The law says you can join together in association to assist the police. How can the police or any government by angry about this.

    “In my opinion, the act has been done, Amotekun had been launched, let them go on.

    ‘’What the state governors have done is legal, so why should they bother? Let them (FG) try to go to court.

    ‘’They will meet the governors there. All what they would have to do is to show them sections 24, 40, 45 of the 1999 constitution.

    “It is a case that must fail if they go to court. They have not set up a parallel police outfit. No. the constitution says it is your duty to protect the interest of yourself and others and join together in doing so. So simple. The case will be so easy to win,” Babalola argued.