Amotekun, FG and Nigeria’s federalism

LAST week, the South-West geopolitical zone’s  response to the persistent orgy of security threats to its peaceful existence in the form of a new security outfit named Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN), with the code name Operation Amotekun, was launched in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. The launch in Ibadan was seen to be symbolic because Ibadan was the capital of the old Western Region where the governmental revolution that marked the First Republic was incubated.

In a Nigeria where the people have become justly cynical of government policies, apparently due to decades of parading dross to the people as policies, Operation Amotekun was greeted with celebrations by the people of the six states that make up the South-West, and virtually the entire country.   Clearly, the pains  inflicted by kidnappers across the region in recent times are still being felt. Among the notable casualties, Mrs. Funke Olakunri, daughter of Pa Reuben Fasoranti, the leader of the pan-Yoruba sociocultural group, Afenifere, was killed between Kajola and Ore on the Ondo-Ore road in Ondo State sometime in July 2019.

Kidnapping and other crimes soared to unimaginable proportions during the marauders’ reign in the region. The belief, therefore, was that Operation Amotekun’s establishment would at least frighten criminals off the land. With the security situation in Nigeria and the South-West, the operation excited a large section of Nigerians as an initiative that could curb the myriad of violence in the South-West. Instructively, sociocultural organisations across the country, including Afenifere, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Arewa Consultative Forum and Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum all endorsed the initiative, harping on its implications for safety and security.

Indeed, to commentators who lamented the pseudo federalism that the country has practised since the military hijack of governance in Nigeria in 1966, Operation Amotekun showed that the South-West was beginning to showcase the tenets of federalism and integration and could, on successful implementation, point the way forward to other parts of the country. However, in a move quite consistent with its attitude over the years, the Nigeria Police was conspicuously absent at the launching of the initiative. Apparently, the explanation by WNSN officials that Amotekun was not established as a substitute to the regular police failed to placate the police establishment and, as it would be seen thereafter, the Federal Government.

On Tuesday, January 14, a press release from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, unmasked the establishment’s disinclination to the establishment of Operation Amotekun. In the release, the Federal Government claimed that the paramilitary organisation was “illegal and runs contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian law.” It cited portions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), especially Item 45 of the Second Schedule  (as amended)  which “established the Army, Navy and Air Force, including the police and other numerous paramilitary organisations for the purpose of the defence of Nigeria” and concluded that “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.”Malami also claimed that his office was not consulted on the matter, or he would have guided the state governments on the need for “Nigeria’s defence and corporate entity” to be “preserved at all times.”

Given the pernicious practice since 1966 of undermining the basis of the country’s existence as agreed by its founding fathers, Malami’s qualms  are understandable. Since coming on board in 2015, the government in which he serves has, time and again, expressed studied preference for the iniquitous status quo, namely the centralisation of political power at the expense of the country’s component units. It is therefore no surprise that Malami’s opinion, robed in the garb of a judicial pronouncement, is completely incongruous with the tone and tenor not only  of the country’s constitution but also of the federal system of government which it proclaims itself to be. In wording and purport, the Malami press release strives, quite arrogantly and quite erroneously, to legislate over, and overrun, elected state governments, an integral part of the component units that give life to the country and the tier of it that he serves in appointive capacity.

In this regard, it is heartening that the South-West governors, eminent legal authorities and elder statesmen have all put a lie to Malami’s spurious claims. For instance, the Ondo State governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), pointed out, quite rightly in our own view, that laws are not made in the AGF’s office, while his Oyo State counterpart, Mr. Seyi Makinde, submitted that he lacked power to ban Amotekun. On his part, human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), submitted that the claims were diversionary and hypocritical, since states like Kano and Zamfara have Hisbah Commission, whose operatives recently arrested a police officer caught with three women at a hotel. He pointed out that the AGF had no power to proscribe any organisation in the country. In any case, even the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Itse Sagay, a known advocate of the Buhari administration, dismissed Malami’s objections, noting that Amotekun was established by the affected governors in line with their constitutional roles as chief security officers of their states.

It is certainly a gross aberration that the Federal Government would choose to scoff at the pains that people in the South-West suffer. We find such an attempt to decree an abridgement of the aspirations of the people of the zone, draped in empty rhetoric and spurious legalese, insulting. There is no doubt that the Federal Government and its police establishment have been grossly inept, unable to tame the kidnapping, murder and violence constantly unleashed on the people of the South-West. In virtually all instances, herdsmen, whose excesses President Muhammadu Buhari and many of his officials have explained away on many occasions, were the culprits fingered in the violence. Thus, it is clear that the presidency is not a neutral party in this matter. Justifying the opposition to Amotekun on the basis of a law that is at variance with the spirit and letters of the practice of federalism is merely an excuse to abet those who inflict violence on the people. In any case, if the Federal Government has any disagreement with the establishment of the Amotekun, the best place to demonstrate this is to go to the Supreme Court to seek judicial interpretation.

More fundamentally, it is impossible for the presidency and the office of the AGF to stave off allegation of bias in this move of theirs. This is because the whole world is aware that Hisbah, the Sharia police, has been operating unfettered in the northern part of the country, together with the Civilian JTF deployed in the fight against Boko Haram. Never has any attempt been made by the Federal Government to curb their operations or cite nebulous portions of the constitution to stop their operations. The AGF and the Federal Government can only inflame passions and cause needless crisis in their attempt to impose their will on the South-West.

We urge the South-West governors to stand firmly by the people who elected them. They should not allow the Federal Government to dissuade them from the attempt to safeguard the lives and properties of their people. Their move is consistent with the practice of federalism.