FG Declares Operation Amotekun Illegal

[Edoman]

Barely a few days after the inauguration of a security outfit known as Amotekun by South-West states, the Federal Government has declared the paramilitary outfit as illegal as it is not backed by any known law in the land.

The Attorney General of the Federation made the feeling of the government known in a statement made available to Vanguard on Tuesday.

In the statement signed by the Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Dr Umar Gwandu, the government said the issue of defence and security fell under the exclusive list and not with the state.

The statement reads in part: “The setting up of the paramilitary organization called “Amotekun” is illegal and runs contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian law.

“The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) has established the Army, Navy and Airforce, including the Police and other numerous paramilitary organisations for the purpose of the defence of Nigeria.

“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 organization 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) authorizing the Police and other Federal Government security services established by law to maintain law and order.

“The law will take its natural course in relation to excesses associated with organization, administration and participation in “Amotekun” or continuous association with it as an association.

“Finally, it is important to put on record that the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice was not consulted on the matter.

“If it had, proper information and guidance would have been offered to ensure that Nigeria’s defence and corporate entity are preserved at all times.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanguar...lares/amp/

[Edoman]

''Hisbah police is ok but Amotekun is illegal''- FFK tackles FG on decision to label South West security outfit an illegal organization






Femi Fani-Kayode has reacted to the decision by the Federal government to declare Amotekun, the security outfit set up by South West governors, an illegal organization
 
The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami,  in a statement released, said that Amotekun is not backed by any law in the country. He insisted that the Federal Government is solely responsible for security of citizens of Nigeria. 
 
Reacting to this decision, FFK in a post shared on his Facebook page this morning, wondered why the Hisbah Police in the North West and Civilian Joint Task Force in the North East can be seen as legal but Amotekun which is to protect indigenes of the South West is illegal. 
 

''Hisbah Police in North West is ok. Civilian Joint Task Force in North West is ok. Civilian Joint Task Force in North East is ok.
Meanwhile IPOB in South East are terrorists and Amotekun in South West is illegal!
One day Nigerians will get tired of this bullshit, get sense and free themselves from this insufferable bondage.
The bitter truth is that what the Federal Government has done by claiming that Amotekun is illegal is to strengthen the hand and harden the resolve of the more radical and forceful elements and the more extreeme nationalist forces in the South West who have always challenged the erroneous notion, flawed logic and questionable assumption that the unity of Nigeria is not only settled but also sacrosanct.
If you say that we cannot defend ourselves and our people from tribal and religious bigots, ethnic cleansers, genocidal maniacs, barbarous savages, bloodthirsty jihadists, blood-lusting terrorists, racial supremacists and cold-blooded mass murderers simply because we are southerners then to hell with your Nigerian unity'' he wrote

[Edoman]

Laws are not made in AGF’s office - Governor Akeredolu replies Malami on declaration of Amotekun as illegal






Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has taken a direct shot at the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federarion (AGF) Abubakar Malami over the declaration of Amotekun, a South-West security outfit as illegal. 
 
In an interview on Channels Television, the Ondo state governor stated that laws are not made in the office of the AGF. According to him, the AGF's job is to interpret the laws and advise the FG on matters relating to the law.

 
Akeredolu who revealed he and his colleagues are yet to meet to adopt a formal stance on Malami's statement, said; 
 

“One thing is clear, laws are not made in the office of the Attorney General; he can only interpret the laws and give positions of government on matters relating to the law.

“When he comes out with relevant portions of the law on the matter, we will consider it and respond adequately as the law stipulates.

“We have not met, but I can assure you that when we meet, we will adequately respond to the position of the AGF.”

 

[Edoman]

Amotekun Not Unconstitutional, Falana Tackles Malami


Oladimeji Ramon

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has differed with the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), on the legality of the southwestern states’ joint security outfit, code-named ‘Amotekun’.

Barely a week after the five South-West governors jointly inaugurated Amotekun for the security of the zone, the AGF, on Tuesday, issued a statement, declared the security out illegal and unconstitutional.

Falana spoke in Lagos on Wednesday at the 16th Annual Gani Fawehinmi Lecture, with the theme, “Federalism and the Judiciary in Nigeria”.

Falana, who was the programme moderator, described Malami’s position on Amotekun as discriminatory, noting that northern states were operating similar security outfits such as Hisbah and the Civilian Joint Task Force.

Falana said, “In the North-East region, particularly Yobe and Borno, there is a civilian JTF, well-armed; and sometimes when the soldiers are afraid they ask the civilian JTF to go and confront Boko Haram.

“In Kano and Sokoto, you have Hisbah. Three weeks ago, Hisbah in Zamfara arrested a policeman; they said the policeman was caught in a hotel with three women and they said that was an abomination.

“The point I’m making is that the Nigerian state has collapsed; we are deceiving ourselves. What the (South-West) governors are doing is not more than the Neighbourhood Watch in Lagos. The only prohibition against any kind of group is in Section 227 of the Constitution – Nobody shall set up a military wing for political reasons.”

Falana said if an individual could apply for a licence to bear arms, he saw no reason why a state governor could not apply for firearms for local security arrangements.

He added, “You can go to Abuja today, as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and apply to the IG for a licence to bear arms; he will give you. And I have asked the Governors of Lagos State since 1999, ‘Please, if I can ask for a gun to protect my family and myself, why can’t you ask for 10,000 licences for young men and women to protect 20 million people?’ We have to go back to court.”

Source: https://punchng.com/amotekun-not-unconstitutional-falana-tackles-malami/amp/

[Edoman]

Amotekun: South West governors have duty to protect their citizens if you fail to do – Alao tells FG, Malami


The gubernatorial candidate of Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the March 9th, 2019 governorship election in Oyo State, Engineer Hakeem Alao, on Wednesday declared that Governors in the South West region have a duty to protect their citizens when the federal government of Nigeria failed to do do.

Alao, who maintained that, though the issue of security is exclusively a statutory function of the federal government, insisted that the Governors; Seyi Makinde (Oyo) Gboyega Oyetola (Osun) Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo) have a duty as Chief security officers of their respective states, to protect the lives and property of their people in a situation where the federal government has not performed as expected.

While reacting to the establishment of Western Nigeria Security Network, also known as Amotekun and the declaration of the security outfit as illegal by the Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, Alao said that the establishment of Amotekun by the Governors became necessary in a period where everybody becomes victims of insecurity, particularly in the hands of strangers.

The AD gubernatorial candidate in a statement personally signed and made available to DAILY POST in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, remarked that the establishment of Amotekun was in order because the regular police have not been able to adequately secured the people of the region.

He spoke further, saying that no true son of the Yoruba race would go against the formation of Amotekun, considering the security threats and all forms of criminal activities going on across the country, particularly in Yoruba land.
Alao in the statement also commiserates with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi and the people of Oyo town over the unfortunate fire disaster that razed down the ancient Akesan market.


Alao said, “Although, the issue of security is exclusively a statutory function of the federal government considering how our federalism is structured, the south west governors have a duty to protect the lives and property of their people in a situation where the federal government has not performed as expected in a period where everybody becomes victims of insecurity, particularly in the hands of strangers, and the regular police have not been able to adequately secured our people.
“Engineer Oyedele Hakeem Alao declared his support for the establishment of Amotekun, a collective security outfit for the safety and security of our people in the south west states of the country.

“Considering the security threats and all forms of criminal activities going on across the country, particularly in Yoruba land, alien to us as a race, and have proved difficult to nip in the bud, which is a complete failure on the part of the federal government, no true son of the Yoruba race would go against the formation of the Western Nigerian Security Network (WNSN), Amotekun, as has been described by Dr Kayode Fayemi, the Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), as a confidence building security strategy pending the time community policing will be put in place by the Nigeria Police.

“So, Amotekun, as has been put together and unveiled publicly by the South West governors, it is surprising to hear the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, declaring it as illegal. It is appalling at this time to declare the outfit illegal by an official of the federal government. It is believed that the governors had taken all necessary steps before the public launch of the security apparatus on Thursday, 9 January, 2020, which they had been working on for the past six months. Why is the outfit being declared illegal all of a sudden?

“All things being equal, the federal government might have a good ground, sentiments apart, to nurse fear about the possibility of threat to the unified national security system of the country which may play out when other geopolitical zones start to establish a similar security outfit, which in the overall, might threaten the continued existence of the country. Perhaps the formation of Amotekun would have been taken through the enactment of the state and national assembly. Above all, a collective fight for true federalism would have been intensified to decentralize the security system of the country, particularly policing, so as not to run against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which our governors have sworn to protect, in the effort to serve our people. A wrong will never make another wrong right.

“The present governors in the south west would do well in securing our people if they could go to the drawing board to come up with short and long term plans that would secure the geopolitical zone socio-economically through aggressive food production and sufficiency, techno-scientific and industrial revolution to open up our local talents and industries. Alao will never support relegation or oppression against the Yoruba race in any disguise, neither the disintegration of Nigeria and will always be in support of the good causes of the masses. Amotekun has come and must come to stay once our people have embraced it!

“Alao identifies with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and the entire people of the ancient town over the burning down of the popular Akesan Market on Friday, 3 January, 2020, he commiserates with those who recorded a huge loss in the inferno and pray that God will resettle them back into life in manifolds”.