Operation Amotekun: Southwest states expedite action to legalise security outfit
- There are moves to give Operation Amotekun a legal backing in the southwest
- The creation of the security outfit has been a subject of controversy following its launch on Thursday, January 9
- The federal government had declared the outfit as illegal prompting wide condemnations of the government's pronouncement
Southwest governors have commenced moves to give legal backing to the newly created regional security outfit, Operation Amotekun.
Vanguard reports that the laws to back up Amotekun are before southwest states Houses of Assembly while lawmakers are already fast-tracking the legislation.
A source quoted in the report said, “all machinery is in motion to pass the laws in all the Houses of Assembly in the zone legalising the establishment of Operation Amotekun.”
The source also said irrespective of the position of the federal government, the southwest governors would do everything within their powers to provide adequate security for the people of the zone.
Source: UGC
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While launching the outfit on Thursday, January 9 the southwest governors said it was not a paramilitary organisation but an initiative to complement the various security agencies to tackle kidnappings and killings in the region.
Some public commentators had argued that the security outfit does not have the backing of any known law, hence the rush to get it legalised by the southwest states.
The federal government had in a statement through the Attorney General of the Federation and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN declared Operation Amotekun as illegal.
The minister said as the chief law officer of the country, he was not consulted before the idea of the operation was deliberated upon.
But, many Yoruba leaders have dismissed the declaration by the minister. Chairman of Afenifere Renewal Group, Chief Olawale Oshun described Malami’s statement as rubbish.
“He is talking arrant nonsense. Let him declare Hisbah police in the 10 Northern states illegal and also let him declare the Civilian Joint Task Force in the northeast. He is talking rubbish, arrant nonsense.
“Those are not Nigerian police institutions and they are not Nigerian security institutions but they were created because there is a need; Amotekun was created because there is a need for it. He is talking nonsense,” an angry Chief Oshun said.
Similarly, a member of the House of Representatives from Osun state, Taiwo Oluga, berated Malami for declaring Operation Amotekun as illegal.
Oluga, who represents Ayedaade/Irewole/Isokan federal constituency in the southwest state, said the minister's action is an abuse of office and a deliberate attempt to suppress the security outfit initiative aimed at fighting kidnapping and banditry in the region.
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Amotekun: Falana blasts Malami, says he has no right to declare group illegal | Legit TV
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