South-West state assemblies hold public hearings on Amotekun Monday

The South-West Houses of Assembly will on Monday hold a simultaneous public hearing over the bills on the establishment of the Amotekun security outfit.

The bill is expected to give legal backing to the security initiative put in place by the six governors of the states in the region.

The public hearing, which is part of the requirements before the law can be passed, is expected to enable the stakeholders to have their input into the bill.

Already, arrangements were said to have been put in place to ensure that the states, including Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Lagos, Ondo and Ekiti states have hitch-free exercises.

The state governors and their executive councils had two weeks ago approved the various versions of the bill as presented by their attorneys general and commissioners for justice.

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It was after the approval that the bills were forwarded to their houses of assembly for consideration and approval.

The speakers of the states had at their meeting in Ibadan agreed to hold public hearings to further improve on the bills.

A statement by the chairman of the confe­rence of speakers of the South-West, who is also the speaker of the Ondo State Ho­use of Assembly, Bam­idele Oleyelogun, sa­id the decision to hold the public heari­ngs was taken at a meeting of the confer­ence held penultimate Frida­y.

He said: “After exha­ustive deliberation, the conference reso­lved that as a matter of urgency, all the State Houses of As­sembly should commen­ce action on the pro­cess of the passage of the bill into law.

“The conference, also in this regard, ma­ndated that all the State Houses of Asse­mbly should simultan­eously hold public hearings on the Bill in their respective States on Monday, 24­th February 2020.

“The conference of Speakers of South-West State Legislatures urges all the people of South-West to attend and make meani­ngful contributions to the bill that reg­ulates protection of lives and property in our States.

“Thereafter, the con­ference of Speakers will reconvene to me­et with the States Attorneys-General to address all conflict­ing areas and to rev­iew the contents of the reports generated at the Public Hear­ings for harmonisati­on into the proposed law.”

It is however expected that after the public hearings, the lawmakers will pass the bills following which their governors will sign it into law.