Additional Report
The Chairman of the South-West Governors’ Forum and Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, on Sunday, said the Operation Amotekun, was not targeted at any non-Yoruba ethnic group.
Akeredolu, who stated this in a statement in Akure by the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Donald Ojogo, said discourse on Operation Amotekun should not be given an ethnic colouration.
The South-West governors, traditional rulers and other prominent indigenes had, in June last year decided to set up Operation Amotekun as a result of serial killings and kidnapping in the zone.
Following the launch of the security outfit on January 9 in Ibadan, prominent groups, including the Igbo apex socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze; the Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere; Northern Elders’ Forum and Middle Belt associations, threw their weight behind the move by the South-West governors.
But on Tuesday, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, faulted the South-West governors. He said they did not consult his office before setting up the security outfit.
“The setting up of the paramilitary organisation called Amotekun is illegal and runs contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian law, he said.”
Akeredolu on Sunday reiterated that the security outfit was to complement the efforts of the conventional internal security agencies.
He warned people against making divisive statements or utterances that were capable of compromising the genuine intentions of the South-West governors.
He said, “Amotekun, when fully operational, will serve the purposes of local information and intelligence gathering for processing and usage by the conventional security agencies. Amotekun is therefore, merely supportive and not a replacement for the nation’s security agencies.
“The concerns expressed by individuals, agencies of government and several stakeholders are noted without bias. Where possible, the inexorable efforts of the South-West governors will be deepened through relentless interface.
“As such interface and engagements continue. It is pertinent to say that the ongoing discourse on the issue of Amotekun must not be misguidedly used as a platform to ventilate personal or group views aimed at oiling primordial sentiments and grievances. Ethnicising the current situation is even more unhelpful. There should be no reason for such.
“This is more so that the Amotekun scheme is not targeted at any non-South West ethnic group just as its benefits are to be reaped by all Nigerians irrespective of ethnic or religious placements.”
The governor expressed confidence that the South-West governors would not submit to blackmail either from within or outside the region, insisting that the governors were ready “to pursue the Amotekun security scheme through all permissible political and legal means.”
On his part, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Chief Afe Babalola, on Sunday said the South-West governors should go ahead with Amotekun and allow the Federal Government to go to court, if it was not satisfied.
Babalola, who said that with Amotekun, the governors had taken a valid legal step to secure their areas and people, urged them to ignore the statement of the AGF that the outfit was illegal.
He said the Federal Government should go to court if it felt the governors had violated any section of the constitution.
Meanwhile, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has declared support for Amotekun.
Atiku revealed that his support is predicated on the fact; that the “centrally controlled police architecture cannot exclusively” deal with security challenges confronting Nigeria.
In a statement issued by Atiku on Sunday, January 19, via his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe; he stressed the need for the creation of additional policing structures in the country; to address the rapidly growing challenges of insecurity and crime.
Specifically, the statement reads: “As enshrined in the Nigerian constitution, the primary responsibility of government; at any level, is the protection of lives and property of the citizen.
“In carrying out this function, the state employs different layers of measures to ensure effective and efficient policing.
“It is without a doubt that in the past decade particularly, the current policing administration in our dear country had been stretched to its limits; and it is obvious that the reality of our domestic security upheaval will demand of us to recalibrate our police systems.
“Because our security challenges are diverse in forms and impacts; it is thus incumbent that centrally controlled police architecture cannot exclusively deal with those challenges.
“Consequently, there is a need for the creation of additional policing structures in the country; to address the rapidly growing challenges of insecurity and crime.
“It is obvious that current levels of insecurity in the country are giving rise to major initiatives; such as Amotekun and the issue need not be controversial in the first place.
“The issue of security shouldn’t be politicised and monopolised in the face of our current alarming security challenges; characterised by the fear of even travelling on our highways by the citizens who might be intercepted by kidnappers and taken hostage for ransom.
“Local policing shouldn’t be mistaken for an effort to hijack the role of the federal police or competition with the federal government. Indeed, the obvious inadequacies of the federal police to effectively deal; with these rapidly growing security challenges make local policing; not only desirable but also necessary.”
