What Malami needs to know

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, described as illegal the newly launched South-West security outfit codenamed Amotekun. The chief law officer, acting on behalf of the Federal Government, strongly posited 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 defense of Nigeria or any of its constituent parts.

This development, expectedly, did not go well with many Nigerians and has been a subject of hot debates and controversies. Therefore, on this unsolicited but opposite legal opinion efforts would be made to dissect the legal position of the Federal Government on Amotekun and other ancillary matters arising from it.

It is crucial to clearly state the two major grounds upon which Mr. Malami declared Amotekun as illegal. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), established the Army, Navy and Air Force, Police, etc and consequently, no state has the right in law to establish any form of security organization for the defence of Nigeria or any of its part. He cited Item 45 of the Second Schedule of the constitution and argued that his office was not consulted in the matters that if the South-West governors had consulted, he would have provided proper “guidance” that will help avoid the “illegality”.

First, it is a truism that the “police and other security agencies established by law” are exclusively the business of the Federal Government as provided under the Item 45 of the Second Schedule of the 1999 Constitution. The question that follows is: is Operation Amotekun a form of state police abhorred by our constitution? Well, during the official launch of the operation, the answer to this important poser was lucidly given. Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), the governor of Ondo State, made it abundantly clear that “Operation Amotekun is not an alternative to the Police Force but a complement conventional security outfit”.

In other words, Operation Amotekun is simply a local intelligence gathering outfit. A complement to the Nigerian Police by way of native intelligence gathering is not illegal under our constitution or any law whatsoever. Operation Amotekun is, therefore, not only constitutional but highly patriotic. Anyone in doubt about this may read together the effect of the provision of Sections 24(e) and 14(2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Operation Amotekun doesn’t run contrary to any written law in Nigeria, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State made it known that the personnel of the Operation Amotekun would bear no arms. The outfit was simply an intelligence gathering one which would help the police in no small measure to bring about peace and orderliness in our country.

So, if Section 14(2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution provides that the “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”, it is not out of place or illegal for the government of states in a region to come together and establish an intelligence gathering outfit which will aid and complement the efforts of the Nigerian Police Force in achieving that purpose.

Festus Ogun,

festusogunlaw@gmail.com