The Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed “Amotekun” was on Thursday launched with governors of the six states of the South West giving clarifications on the rationale behind the setting up of the outfit.
Resonating in the speeches of the governors is that the outfit was only established in embracing community policing and complementing the efforts of traditional security outfits like the police and army.
They explained that the outfit was not an alternative to the police force but established to assist the nation’s security infrastructure through intelligence gathering and to forge a common front to ensure peaceful coexistence in the zone.
Present at the launch were Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo); deputy governors Benedict Alabi (Osun), Noimot Salako-Oyedele (Ogun).
Others are the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi; leader, Yoruba World Congress, Professor Banji Akintoye; the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams represented by Osi Are of Yorubaland, Kayode Balogun; Alawe of Ilawe Ekiti, Oba Adebanji Alabi; Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Sunday Dare.
Speaking on purportedly being summoned before the launch of the outfit launch, Akeredolu said President Muhammadu Buhari never summoned the South West governors on the outfit.
He said the governors only had a formal discussion with the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, in which they were represented by Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state.
“The Presidency never summoned the governors. He had no time. I am sure that the Presidency is agreeable to this. All that happened is that we needed to have a formal discussion with the Inspector General of Police and we did not all have to go there. The governor of Ekiti, Kayode Fayemi represented us there and had a formal discussion with the IGP and that is all. The President never summoned us on this matter at all.
“The essence of Amotekun is collaboration. We are not here to upstage any of the security operatives that we have on ground, be it military, police, civil defence. We are all going to work together. Even the personnel that will work, I can tell you about Ondo state, we had all sat down to discuss with the brigade commander, commissioner of police, because when it comes to security, not one outfit can do it alone. We will ensure that the abuse is minimal by ensuring that those to be engaged are trained and those who go out of the way are out.
“What we are doing is legal and within our powers. Section 14 (2) of the constitution stipulates that we are responsible for their security of lives and properties of our people. We are setting this outfit up to enable our people to have confidence that we are worried about the state of insecurity,” Akeredolu said.
Aside from the launch of pickup vans, Akeredolu, who is Chairman, Western Nigeria Governors Forum, added that the states were also donating motorcycles to enable the personnel to comb innermost parts of the zone.
Host governor, Makinde explained that Amotekun was done in creating an appendage of local vigilantes that will feed the current state apparatus.
He added that the outfit was crafted in line with the existing security architecture of the nation and would enhance regional integration, growth and development.
“Our regional integration, our coming together, should be seen in one light and one light alone: that we are coming together to fight a common enemy. The enemy is not Nigeria; the enemies are the elements among us and their affiliates who are determined to cause commotion within the borders of our states and threaten our peaceful coexistence,” Makinde said.
Fayemi, in his own goodwill message, said Amotekun was not aimed at creating regional police force, was not a duplication of the Nigeria Police Force but only intended to complement an “overstretched” police force.
Regardless the creation of the outfit, Fayemi said the region was not oblivious of pushing for state police which he noted required constitutional amendment.
He explained that the outfit will operate on a state by state basis though there might be collaboration across states.
“Amotekun is nothing but a community policing response to a problem that our people would like to see the back-off. But pending the time the community policing strategy been put together by the Nigerian Police Force come to fruition, it is clearly important that we give our people a confidence-boosting strategy.
“When those elements that are going to work in a joint task force with the mainstream security agencies undertake this assignment, they are going to do so with the knowledge of the terrain, with the knowledge of the language, with the knowledge of the culture and history of the communities which they are going to work.
“And that is what sets these apart from all other systems that may have been in place. Amotekun is not a duplication, neither is Amotekun a replacement of the Nigerian Police Force. Amotekun is a complement that gives our people confidence that they are been looked after by those they elected into office.
“We are not creating a regional police force. Neither are we oblivious of the steps we must take in order to have state police. Yes, some of us are unapologetic inveterate advocate of state police.
“But, we are also law-abiding citizens of Nigeria. We know the process and the procedures that we need to undergo in order to get to that point. We know we need a constitutional amendment and we are not there yet,” Fayemi said.
Speaking at the event, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, saluted the six governors of the region for setting aside their political affiliations in coming up with the Amotekun outfit.
He maintained that all the traditional rulers in the region were fully in support of the initiative because the idea was to protect the region from the insecurity of varying degrees.
Noting that all Yoruba traditional rulers were united in supporting the initiative, he urged all Yorubas not to belittle the outfit but support it fully.
“It is important for us to realise that when there is fire burning, we have to first attend to the one that affects us the closest. This is our own and we must uphold it.
“We are all Amotekun. The governors have done theirs and so, I plead with all Yorubas to join hands with them, in particular, those that will be appointed into the Amotekun committee.
“We, Yorubas, from the outset, have not been dishonest; anyone who is deceitful bears the consequences. The traditional rulers are in support; our governors are in full support and are ready to devote their time and resources. I, therefore, urge us to be united to ensure that peace reigns in Yoruba land.”
In his reaction on insinuations that there are reservations n the practicability of the initiative, the leader of the Yoruba World Congress, Professor Banji Akintoye, said it was high time the Yoruba nation stood against insecurity in the region.
He lamented that the region was under pressure, stressing that the action of the six governors and other leaders to form Amotekun Security Outfit became necessary.
“Yoruba nation is under pressure. We are seeing our people being driven from their farms or being killed there. And we see our roads being disrupted and our people being kidnapped and killed. The initiative, Amotekun, is totally welcome to the Yoruba people. There will be people who will have objections.
“There will be, for instance, people who don’t want this to happen. Those who want us to us to lie down and allow Fulanis to come and roll over us. And so, we are happy that our governors are telling the world that it is not going to happen.”
Still discarding the insinuation that the initiative would pose a threat to the nation, Professor Akintoye explained that the goal of the Amotekun was to defend the Western states from security, and not to threaten the unity of the country at large.
“It must, therefore, be sounded that nobody is threatening anybody here. What we are doing is defending our region and every Yoruba person, as a complimentary effort to the mainstream security agencies.
He pointed out that the idea did not connote regionalization, adding that though he believed in restructuring, the process of restructuring might take much longer time.
“We can wait forever for restructuring; we can wait forever for state police. But we cannot wait forever to see Yoruba nation being dragged to nothing. I have always supported restructuring. I have contributed articles in restructuring. This is not creating power, creating state police. It is about arousing, mobilising Yoruba people to stand up and defend their land,” Akintoye said.
The Osun state governor, Mr Gboyega Oyetola, explained that Amotekun, as a joint security outfit, was part of the responsibility and efficiency of the South Western state governors to their region.
Represented by his deputy, Mr Benedict Alabi, Oyetola maintained it was the role of the state governors to be responsive the security challenges ravaging the region in the areas of banditry, ritual killing, herdsmen innovation cum killing, among other challenges that pose a threat to the survival of the region.
Oyetola, who said that security and welfare of the people of the region was non-negotiable, lauded the contributions of the chiefs of the mainstream security agencies like the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Air Staff, the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the State Security Service (DSS), and the Commandant-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps for their response to the request of the governors of the southwest regarding the security challenge in the region.
He, therefore, charged the men of the Amotekun to embark on best practices and ethically grounded for the special assignment to complement the efforts of the mainstream agencies.
In his remarks, Director General, Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, Mr Seye Oyeleye assured of the workability of the Amotekun framework which advocates community policing at a regional level.
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