Former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has declared that no force can stop the new south-west security outfit, Amotekun, as he noted that the youth of the region are already mobilized to defend the initiative.
In a chat with newsmen, in Abuja on Sunday, the chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) maintained that it is necessary to checkmate the slaughtering of people in the region who he said cannot watch while criminals take over their area.
He said: “Let me send a signal warning to those that are insulting us, threatening us and saying that we won’t be president and we won’t have anything in this country and that they will fight us if we continue with this initiative. Those days of bowing to threats are long gone.
“This is a serious, responsible initiative. We are not seeking to attack anybody, we are not seeking to intimidate anybody. We are simply seeking to defend and protect our people.
“And woe be for those that believe that they can intimidate us into silence or into stepping back. There is no going back.
“The young men behind us are not talking. They are preparing for the worse. We are the ones that are telling them that there is hope, and that is that this country can remain one as long as we are in a position to defend ourselves and we devolve power from the centre.
“We are working on that. Everybody wants peace but nobody should take us for granted. Our will, our resolve is strong and we will defend our people no matter what.”
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He said the region can only step back from maintaining its own security outfit if the President Muhammadu Buhari administration assumes its responsibility to protect the people.
According to him, the government has already failed in that direction, necessitating the setting up of Amotekun.
Fani-Kayode stated: “No government, no individual, no court can tell us that we have to sit by silently whilst our people are being slaughtered. They should not play game with this matter.
“What is good for parts of the north is good for us in the south-west. We are not second class citizens, we are not animals, we are not dogs. We didn’t opt to be part of Nigeria for our people to be sacrificed by those that feel the can shed out blood at will and take our lives at will.
“People are being killed. This is not a game and if the federal government refuses to defend us and protect our people as they are constitutionally meant to do, what do you expect us to do? To sit back and do nothing?
“And you tell us some court or some government says we can’t? Certainly, we won’t abide by that. We will defend ourselves no matter what it takes. We will protect our people, we will protect our lives and property.
“I am saying this has to stop. If you don’t want it, then I urge President Buhari and all his government to start taking security seriously and rid all the forests of south-west of all these miscreants that have come there and are killing our people on a daily basis.
“If you do that, then we can step back. If you can guarantee that and you effect it, we can live with that. But as long as you do not do your duty, you do not expect us to sit back and say because of some court judgment or some individuals or some government officials, we will allow our children, our wives, our elders and our people to be slaughtered as well. This is wrong, and it is unacceptable.”
On the allegation that Amotekun was a prelude to forming the Oduduwa Republic, he insisted that if the region is not allowed to protect itself, it may be forced to push for “Oduduwa” homeland.
The former minister further said: “We don’t play such games in the south-west. Millions of our people want to establish an Oduduwa state. Many others believe that is not the way forward. The way forward is to devolve power from the center and restructure the country.
“There are two positions in Yorubaland. It is either the first or the second. There is no running away from that.
“But I’ll tell you this. If you want Oduduwa Republic to come, tell us that we cannot defend our people, that we have to continue to allow people from outside to come into our territory and kill our people.
“Let that continue and we will take Oduduwa whether you like it or not. But if you allow us to defend our people, you devolve power for the centre, you restructure this country, then perhaps there is hope to continue the unity of this country.
“Outside of that, we will not be slaves in Nigeria and we will not allow our people to be slaughtered at will.
“I challenge those that are threatening us not to test our will. We are not interested in your presidency, we are not interested in all the goodies you want to throw our way for us to disarm ourselves and act as if we are nothing, we are cowards. We are not interested in that.
“We are interested in living decent life in a country that will respect the lives and property of our citizens and we are interested in being able to protect ourselves if the government refuses to protect and defend us.
“That we will do and nobody will take that right away from us. “
Fani-Kayode commended the governors of the south-west for the Amotekun initiative, assuring that the people are behind them.
He said: “Many of us thought they didn’t have the courage to do it but they have done it and we should commend them for that.
“And anybody that feels that they do not have the support of the south-west is mistaking and anybody that believes that we can be in any way intimidated into stepping back and saying that we will not defend our people and protect our people from those that come from elsewhere and slaughter them is mistaking. There is no going back
“And it is something that we have a firm resolve about. We speak as one, we stand as one, we are solidly behind the governors, every group in the south-west is behind the governors, its across party lines. Whether you are PDP or APC, it doesn’t matter.
“Those of us that claim to be leaders in the south-west have taken a position that we will defend our people no matter what it takes, no matter what it costs.”