Afenifere Group in United Kingdom and Europe has urged the South West Governors in Nigeria to form strong alliance to sustain the well deserve security outfit ‘Operation Amotekun’ in the region.
The Secretaryof the Group, Engr. Anthony Kayode Ajayi stated this in a statement from the Group in UK today.
The Afenifere Group in UK and Europe according to the Secretary is very much in support of the launch of the Operation Amotekun by the Governors of the six South Western states of the country, describing it as a laudable and welcome development.
While commending all the South West Governors for this wonderful and brilliant initiative, the Group said that they are optimistic that the Amotekun initiative will bring an end to the security challenges bedevilling the region, adding that the fears that the initiative may end up becoming unsustainable is nothing but a mirage with intents to kill the initiatives.
“We have been rightly briefed that the security formation was initiated by the South West states, namely Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti, to tackle the problem of insecurity within the region. It is expected to complement the efforts of the police force in tackling the issue of kidnapping, armed robbery, as well as the menace of herdsmen, who have in recent times engaged in various deadly clashes with farmers.
“The initiative will bring about the needed safety of lives and property as prescribed by 1999 Constitution (as amended), which states, “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.
“Membership of the outfit comprises vigilante groups operating within each state, security experts and statutory security agencies such as the police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.
“Though a regional outfit, each state will have its own Amotekun in the form of a state police command. They will operate from a given base in each state.
“There will also be local government organs, which will coordinate Amotekun activities in each local government. But, the six state commands will relate with the regional command to which each has contributed vehicles equipped with security and communication gadgets.
“The regional command will operate from the control centre in Ibadan, and will work closely with the DAWN Commission, which provides administrative supervision to the project.
“As we gathered, Amotekun will be funded by the state governments with support from their security trust funds, as the Commissioner of Police in each of the states involved will oversee the operations. I
was also learnt that the participating states have recruited many of the unconventional security personnel.
“As a local collaborative measure, Amotekun will gather information about crimes and suspicious activities for interpretation and proper action, including prevention, management or counteraction.
“The operation module of the local security outfit will include, undertaking routine patrols in parts of highways in the region, which police are unable to adequately cover day and night. Working with traditional rulers, its activities will also permeate local communities to keep an eye on suspicious residents, visitors and non-residents coming for business or related activities”, the Group Secretary said.
The Group commended Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi for his speech at the inauguration of the outfit in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Fayemi dispelled rumours that Operation Amotekun would work as a regional police force.
He stated that the Southwest Governors were not out to undermine the integrity and sovereignty of Nigeria but were providing the Yoruba people with a “confidence-building strategy” to tackle crime and criminality in the region, adding that Amotekun was neither an alternative to any of the conventional security agencies in the country nor a state police.
He explained that Amotekun would complement and work in collaboration with existing security agencies to provide adequate security of lives and property in the region.
“The Western Nigeria Security Network operation Amotekun is nothing but a community policing response to a problem that our people would like to put an end to. But pending the time that the community policing strategy being put together by the Nigeria Police comes to fruition, it is clearly important that we give our people a confidence boosting strategy.
“So if you ask me, Amotekun is nothing but a confidence building strategy for our people in the western zone. When those elements that are going to work in the joint task force with the mainstream security agencies undertake this assignment, they are going to do it with the knowledge of the terrain, language and culture of the community they are going to work.”
“Amotekun is not a duplication neither is it a replacement for the Nigeria Police Force. Amotekun is a complement that gives our people the confidence that they are being looked after by the people they elected into office. We do not want this to create fear in the mind of anyone. We are not creating a regional police force. We are not oblivious of the steps we need to follow in forming State police. We are law abiding citizens of Nigeria. We know that will require a constitutional amendment and we are not there yet”, Fayemi has said.
He also stated that the security agencies have embraced the Western Nigeria Security Network and urged Nigerians not to give room for fears, which may have emanated from the propaganda circulating in the social media about Amotekun.
”We were daily assaulted by the spate of kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery across the length and breadth of the South West. We obviously sought succour in all the right places and the mainstream security tried their best in arresting the security situation. It was in the context of this development that we lost the daughter of our leader in Afenifere, Pa Fasoranti.
“As elected leaders of our various States, our primary responsibility according to section (14)2 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, is the security and welfare of our citizens and that’s what informed the coming together of my colleagues and I to fashion a way that we can utilise to complement the work of our mainstream security agencies that are quite overstretched in their efforts to curb the menace that has afflicted not just our zone but the entire country at the time,” Fayemi added.
The Group also applauded the Chairman of the South West Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ondo State, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu when he said the Governors are united in their resolve to ensure peace and security in the region.
Akeredolu stated that the South West Governors cannot erect ‘an antagonistic structure whose template is against existing security apparatus’, maintaining that the ‘barbarism’ displayed by criminal elements in the region gave the governors grave concern which necessitated the security platform.
He noted that he and his colleagues believed in the unity of Nigeria because the nation’s strength is in unity.
They also commended the host Governor, Seyi Makinde as he stated that development cannot take place in a state of insecurity, adding that Amotekun would protect the lives and property of indigene and non indigene.
On the issue of state police, the Group said, “The introduction of state police into Nigerian policing system has been widely suggested as the only solution for the curbing of the incessant security conundrum in the country.
“The mantra has gained popularity as a result of the surge in the rate of highly sophisticated crimes in the country and the inability of the federal police command to contain the challenges.
“It is believed that the closeness of the state police to the society of its jurisdiction places it in more proactive position for the detecting and uprooting of any emerging crime before it grows.
“However, there is an opinion which insists that state police will lead to a situation in which there will be two rivaling institutions of the same responsibility, duty and nature in the country. This is mainly the opinion of the antagonists of state police.
Nevertheless the protagonists of the state police maintain that the creation of state police is the only solution to all Nigeria security challenges, given the acquaintance of the institution with the people and the terrain.
“Although the structure of police in Nigeria negates the concept of state police as enshrined in the constitution, Nigerians are prepared to tolerate this practice; so far it will assist the police in discharging its constitutional and statutory roles effectively.
“The surge in the rate of sophisticated crimes in Nigeria and the continue helplessness of the centrally controlled police has empowered the necessity for the creation of state police”.
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