FG, S’West govs mull political solution to Amotekun

Rallies in Lagos, Ekiti, Oyo, others   The federal government and six governors of the South West are working towards finding a workable solution to the stalemate over the creation of Amotekun, the western Nigeria security network, sources told Daily Trust yesterday. To this end, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has invited the governors to a […]

• Rallies in Lagos, Ekiti, Oyo, others

 

The federal government and six governors of the South West are working towards finding a workable solution to the stalemate over the creation of Amotekun, the western Nigeria security network, sources told Daily Trust yesterday.

To this end, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has invited the governors to a meeting at the State House tomorrow, where the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), are also expected to be in attendance.

The South West governors had on Thursday, January 9, in Ibadan, flagged-off the Amotekun, saying it would complement the mainstream security agencies. But few days after, Malami in a statement declared the paramilitary outfit as illegal, saying it is not backed by any known law in the land.

Since then, different actors have keyed into the debate with many saying beyond the issue of security, Amotekun is a bargaining tool for power shift to the South West.

Tomorrow’s meeting between Osinbajo and the South West governors is coming after the IG briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on the controversial launch of the regional security outfit.  The president reportedly asked him to liaise with the AGF to tackle the issue.

This will be the first time that two parties – the federal government on one hand the South West governor on the other – will officially engage each other since the federal government declared the Amotekun illegal.

It is not clear what Osinbajo will offer the governors as Daily Trust was reliably told that the government “will not change its position on the matter because it regards Amotekun as unconstitutional and a threat to national security.”

“Despite all the noise they (governors) are making, they have now started reaching out asking for a way out,” one of our sources said. The AGF has so far not commented on the proposed meeting.

Another source said the meeting was actually scheduled for yesterday, but was shifted after the monthly National Economic Council (NEC) which involved the governors of the 36 states of the federation.

The source said President Buhari delegated his deputy to meet the governors.

“Already, there is a notion that the president might have delegated the vice president to avoid meeting the governors since the minister of justice has described the South West security outfit as illegal,” he said.

“But the government is also treading softly considering that the whole idea of Amotekun has taken a political dimension,” another source said.

“And you know how strategic the South West is to the survival of the APC. Remember that five of the governors are members of the APC except that of Oyo … So, it is a serious dilemma for the federal government and the APC. The governors will not want to offend their people by dropping the idea and they would not like to start fighting with the federal government either.

“The whole drama is about 2023 which is not far away politically. They want to start making noise so that the North will not attempt to retain power or cede it to the South East.

“I think the meeting with the VP is to find a political solution to the Amotekun debacle so that the debate will not deteriorate to confrontation,” the source said.

 

Heavy police presence at Amotekun rallies

There was heavy police presence at venues of the rallies organised yesterday by the Yoruba World Congress (YWC) in all the states in the South West in support of the regional security outfit, Amotekun.

The YWC had on Monday called on “Yoruba people within and beyond the shores of Nigeria” to troop out and participate in a protest rally in support of Operation Amotekun.

But the police presence had reduced the magnitude of the event, especially in Lagos State, where they prevented the huge crowd that gathered early in the morning from using the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota, the intended venue of the rally.

The police barricaded the venue of the protest with over 20 police vans and chased away the protesters as they milled around.

After an unsuccessful attempt to use the venue, the protesters gathered outside the park in Ojota where they addressed the press.

The Director of Media of the YWC, Mr Maxwell Adeleye, told journalists that any attempt by the federal government to frustrate the Amotekun initiative would fail “as the idea has come to stay.”

He stressed that the Yoruba people desired Amotekun to end kidnapping, banditry and other forms of insecurity in the region.

According to him, “Amotekun is not against any tribe or race. The network will protect the Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, Urhobo, Igede and everyone living and working in Yorubaland.”

Also at the Lagos Island, protesters supporting Amotekun were seen in groups around the Lagos High Court, Igbosere; the Lagos division of the Court of Appeal and the Igbosere chief magistrate court, all on Lagos Island. They were, however, prevented from staging any protest or rally by the police who stationed their vehicles at various points near the courts to quickly checkmate the protesters.

 

OPC, hunters staged Amotekun rally in Ekiti

In Ekiti State, different groups including hunters, the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), Yoruba Koya, Man ‘O War, Oodua Union, Ekiti Council of Elders, Agbekoya  and  clerics staged a solidarity rally to support the new  security outfit.

Participants at the rally trekked from the popular Fajuyi Park, through Okesa junction to Ojumose, the popular Erekesan market and Ijigbo area of Ado Ekiti, the capital city.

A coordinator of the protest, Pastor Praise Ayodele, said, “Amotekun has come to stay in South West Nigeria. We are doing this to support our governors that we are happy with Amotekun.”

The coordinator of Oodua Union, Hon. Femi Robinson, said the security architecture in the country had collapsed and local security had become imperative.

Also in Oyo State, there was heavy security presence at the Remembrance Arcade, government house, Ibadan, where supporters of Amotekun gathered for the solidarity walk.

The placard-bearing protesters sang various solidarity songs to express their determination to support the South West governors. Addressing journalists on the purpose of the solidarity walk, the Head of Security, YWC, Evangelist Kunle Adesokan, said “We have heard some people from some cultures and tribes threatening that if Yorubas did not denounce the Amotekun project, they will deny us the presidential slot in 2023. We call that ordinary fallacy because Nigeria belongs to us all.”

 

Amotekun supporters scared away in Ogun

In Ogun State, security agents took over the venue of the rally, Skating Ground, Panseke, Abeokuta, where the protesters had planned to take off as early as 7am.

Members of about 14 civil society and pro-Yoruba groups had mobilised for the rally. However, the presence of security operatives appeared to have forced a number of them to retreat.

Instead, the leader of each group gave brief talks on the necessity of the security outfit.

The Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson, who later visited the venue, explained that the police had a duty to ensure there was no breach of peace.

 

Amotekun has come to say – Akeredolu

The Ondo State governor and chairman, South West Governors Forum, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has said that Operation Amotekun has come to stay “despite pressure by the federal government.”

Addressing YWC members comprising different Yoruba pressure groups during the solidarity rally in Akure, Akeredolu said the six governors of the South West region had resolved not to bow to pressure from any quarter on the new security outfit.

The governor, who spoke through his Chief of Staff, Chief Gbenga Ale, said, “We are not ready to abandon our people. We shall stand by the people of the Yoruba race, notwithstanding the pressure.”

 

Osun Muslims dissatisfied with Amotekun

Youths in Osogbo, Osun State, yesterday morning staged a rally in support of Operation Amotekun.

But the Osun State Muslim Community (OSMC) expressed its dissatisfaction with “the manner Operation Amotekun was formulated with religious insensitivity.”

A communiqué of the Muslim community said, “We unequivocally condemn issuance of certificate of birth, letters of recommendation from the church, and deliberately silent about other religions. The OSMC can never support a one-sided security outfit which may later on prove insecure for the general populace.”

One of the conveners of the protest in support of Amotekun, Comrade Wahab Kazeem said the operation must be allowed to stay.

With solidarity songs, the youths moved from Nelson Mandela Freedom Park through Oke-Fia to Oja Oba in Osogbo.

 

Atiku backs Amotekun

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said yesterday that self-defence is an international human right guaranteed by Article 51, of the United Nations Charter.

Atiku in a statement sent to newsmen by his media office yesterday, said the right to self-defence, including the right to combat terror, is guaranteed by international law, as enshrined in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, of which Nigeria is a signatory, adding that Nigerian armed forces are overstretched.

According to Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections, “Nigeria has crossed the rubicon and cannot go back.”

He argued that there was too much insecurity in the land and too much inefficiency on the side of the federal government, which he said was leading to unnecessary loss of lives.

“Internal security is not a call for secession and we must abandon the paranoia that makes us see it as such. All calls for secession must be quashed by the might of the Nigerian State, no exceptions,” he said.