Featured, Politics

ALTHOUGH the federal government and the six southwestern states have agreed on the way forward for the security outfit, Amotekun, which was launched by the governors in response to security challenges in the region. However, it will be futile on the part of the federal government to stop the wind of change in the area of securing the lives and properties of Nigerians.

 

By Anayo Ezugwu

When the southwest governors launched Operation Amotekun, the new security outfit in the region on Thursday, January 9, the objectives of the outfit were clear. Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State said the operation was nothing but a community policing response to insecurity in the region.

Fayemi said: “But pending the time that the community policing strategy being put together by the Nigeria Police comes to fruition, it is clearly important that we give our people a confidence-boosting strategy. We are not creating a regional police force neither are we oblivious of steps to take in order to have state police. Yes, some of us are apologetic advocates of state police, but we are also law-abiding citizens of Nigeria. We know the process and procedure to undergo to get to that point.”

The operation was applauded by many prominent personalities in the region and beyond that even Professor Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate described it as a pleasant New Year gift from the governors. Speaking as a guest speaker at the Never again Conference in Lagos, Soyinka said Amotekun has restored his hope and believe in the governors.

But this celebration in the southwest appeared to be short-lived when Abubakar Malami, the

attorney general of the federation and minister for justice, was reported to have declared the operation illegal. A press statement alleged to have emanated from his office said that the issues of defence and security were under the exclusive list and not with the states.

The statement stated that setting up Amotekun would run contrary to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). “As a consequence of this, no state government, whether singly or in a group has the legal right and competence to establish any form of organisation or agency for the defence of Nigeria or any of its constituent parts.

“This is sanctioned by the provision of Item 45 of the Second Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) authorising the police and other federal security services established by law to maintain law and order. The law will take its natural course in relation to excesses associated with organisation, administration and participation in Amotekun or continuous association with it as an association,” the statement said.

The declaration raised several issues and debates which tended to further divided Nigerians along regional, ethnic and religious lines. And to resolve the controversies, Bola Tinubu, national leader, All Progressives Congress, APC, in a press statement made available to Realnews on Wedneday, January 22, called on the governors and the attorney general to have a private discussion on the issue. He said Amotekun is not a threat to the unity of the nation. “Either the governors should seek an official but private meeting with the attorney general, or the attorney general can initiate the contact. Since Amotekun is their initiative, the governors bear the greater onus in seeking the meeting.

“The fabric of the republic has not been put at stake by Amotekun. However, that fabric could be torn by the dangerous rhetoric of those who should know better. Those claiming that this limited, inoffensive addition to security threatens the republic have taken themselves upon a madcap excursion. Those claiming that the federal government seeks to terribly suppress the South-West have also lost their compass.

“Those who occupy these two extremes have sunken into the dark recesses of fear and political paranoia that can undo a nation if such sentiments are allowed to gestate. I have initiated communication with the chairman of the South-West Governors’ Forum, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, with a view to meeting the South-West governors to explore amicable solutions to the avoidable controversy,” he said.

Likewise, Femi Falana, SAN, human rights lawyer, urged the southwest governors to submit bills on Amotekun to their Houses of Assembly. In a statement on Wednesday, January 22, Falana noted that the police had endorsed Amotekun, while the attorney general of the federation questioned its legality.

“Although I had cause to take issue with Malami over his legal opinion on the security outfit, I was compelled to call on each of the South-West governors to forward a bill to the House of Assembly of each state for the formation of Amotekun,” he said.

According to Falana, in the absence of an enabling legal instrument for the establishment, structure, functions, control, funding, and operation of Amotekun, various interest groups in the country have continued to express divergent views. “Amotekun is not a regional paramilitary organization, but a zonal security outfit being set up to assist the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies in combating incessant killings, kidnapping, armed robberies and other violent crimes that are on the ascendancy 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 South-West, who have embraced the security initiative are entitled to know the law setting it up. Therefore, the attorneys general in the states in the South-West 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.”

But Mogaji Gboyega Adejumo, publicity secretary, Yoruba Summit Group, said the governors formed Amotekun because the federal security agencies failed in protecting people from the region. Speaking on Kaakaki on African Independent Television, AIT, on Thursday, January 23, Adejumo said the region would not sit and allow herdsmen to overrun them.

“Even when Tinubu was fighting the federal government, he was not fighting on the bases of insecurity, but on the bases of constitution and federalism. We are saying that Nigeria is not progressing because we are practicing a system of government that does not represent true federalism.

“We want to be able to take care of our own because any government: local, state or federal must have security as its number one item. The question is, has the government given us security or opportunity to protect ourselves? And we are saying let us provide for ourselves on the level of security and we are here talking about what somebody has said and what somebody has not said.

“The countries that know exactly what to do will start from the county level to have a sheriff, when you get to the state level they will have NYPD and at the federal level they will have FBI and the rest of them. But here we are talking about Amotekun and we are reducing it to somebody said. Are we serious?

“People are being killed every day. Just yesterday we had report of a pregnant woman that was killed in Ogun, in Ekiti about four people were killed and in Kogi as well and we know all those who are doing it. Why are we hiding? The herdsmen have been rated the fourth most deadly terrorist organization in the world. So what do you want us to do? You want us to be politically correct with the lives of our people. We will not do that for the records. If anybody is not comfortable with the operation, the person should go to court and we will meet him there,” he said.

The idea of a collaborative security outfit among the six states in the southwest (Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti) came out of a summit held in Ibadan on June 25, 2019, following a spate of kidnappings, banditry and armed robbery in the region. With the security situation almost out of hand, and fingers being pointed at the roving herdsmen, the murder of Funke Olakunrin, daughter of Pa Reuben Fasoranti, put considerable pressure on the governors at a time many farmers were being forced to abandon their only means of livelihood and villagers were deserting their homes due to incessant attacks.

Held in Ibadan under the auspices of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria, DAWN Commission, Seye Oyeleye, director-general of the commission had assured before the meeting that the outcome would provide concrete ideas on how to secure the region. Invited to present papers were Leye Oyebade, Assistant Inspector General, AIG, in charge of Oyo, Osun and Ondo states as well as Prof. Femi Odekunle and Prof. Olutayo Adesina, who chaired the technical committee that eventually distilled the outcome of the meeting and came up with both ‘Amotekun’ and ‘Western Nigeria Security Network’.

Working under the umbrella of a ‘Network’ is because the governors had made it clear that whatever security arrangement the committee came up with would be state-based but feature a network that would share intelligence in relation to cross-boundary crimes. They would jointly procure electronic gadgets, including phone trackers and drones and the outfit would also be under the same command for coordination and effectiveness.

But in the operational guidelines, ‘Amotekun’ was envisioned to function complementarily to, and not separately from, the existing conventional national security agencies. In fact, the Ibadan meeting was also attended by representatives of all security institutions in the country. Mohammed Adamu, Inspector General of Police, IGP, was represented by DIG Taiwo Lakanu who retired recently.

The governors then met twice after receiving the report of the Adesina committee and eventually ratified the idea of ‘Amotekun’ as a security outfit for the South-West. It was also agreed that each of the states would enact laws to back it up as state-based security initiatives.

With attacks from the federal government, socio-cultural groups like Miyetti Allah and other prominent individuals in the north, the question many Nigerians are asking is: why is the north afraid of Operation Amotekun?

But the meeting between the Federal Government and the governors, which agreed that Amotekun will be aligned with the Federal Government’s community policing plan, may have calmed the situation.

The meeting, which was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, was attended by Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, and Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu on the side of the Federal Government at the State House, Abuja while Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, who is chairman of the Southwest Governors Forum, led Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, Osun State Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, Oyo State Deputy Governor Rauf Olaniyan and Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat to the meeting.

The statement by Laolu Akande, spokesman of the vice president said: “the meeting was very fruitful as unanimous resolutions were made on the way forward.

“Having regard to the need for all hands to be on deck in addressing the security concerns across the country, it was agreed that the structure of Amotekun should also align with the Community Policing strategy of the Federal Government.

“It was also agreed that necessary legal instruments will be put in place by each of the States to give legal backing to the initiative and address all issues concerning the regulation of the security structure.”

Akeredolu, who also described the meeting as “fruitful”, said: “We have rubbed minds and all of us have agreed on the way forward. The most important one is that we are going to have legal framework to back this Amotekun. And this legal framework is going to be one which we all are going to look at and will be sure to go without any hindrance”.

When asked if the security network would be put on hold while the necessary conditions were being met, he said “no. What I believe in our resolution is that Amotekun is there, you know the federal government is starting community policing, in essence really it is about community. So, we are going to work together to see the community policing and Amotekun work in a way”.

He was asked why such arrangements were not pursued before Operation Amotekun was launched, the governor said there were consultations.

“No no no, there were consultations, don’t say there were no consultations.  There were consultations because, we held discussions with the IGP then and what has developed is what has led to this, not that there were no consultations. We just felt that with all these noises outside it is better for us to sit down.

“Remember that immediately the noise started, I said that we are going to explore political solution and all of us are here, my colleague the deputy governor of Oyo who is of the PDP, all of us are here. So we have looked at this solution to it now, both political and legal solutions to it and all of us will do it,” he said.

He also explained that “the Federal Government is not trying to stop it. The attorney general has spoken on that, I’m sure you have all read the statement that he was misinterpreted. So it’s so clear, there was no time that the government wanted to stop Amotekun and the AGF has spoken, it’s all about us, so there is no problem”.

Although, Gov. Akeredolu says ‘’there is no problem”, which is the common stand of an average Nigerian in the face of daunting challenges, the real issue is the level of distrust which the launch of the Amotekun outfit has thrown up in the polity, despite the façade being showcased by the ruling APC that all is well. It is obvious that more states will come up with their community policing soon and that is the beginning of restructuring which Nigerians have been yearning for.

– Jan. 25, 2020 @ 15:55 GMT |

Tags: Operation Amotekun: How long can the blind truce last?