Operation Amotekun
The Government of Ekiti State and chairman of the Southwest Governors’ Forum, Kayode Fayemi, has received the bill for a law to establish the State Security Network Agency and Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) popularly known as Amotekun.
The bill was received by the governor from the Ekiti State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Wale Fapounda. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that similar bills are expected to be developed by the five states in the southwest region in preparation for legal backing for Amotekun.
Speaking on the submitted bill, Fapounda said the draft sought a proposal for the establishment of an Ekiti State Security Network, to be known as “Amotekun Corps”.
He said: “In the past two weeks, the AGs from the six states have been working on how to provide enabling legal frameworks for our joint security network.”
“After the draft bills were produced, we said we will present the draft to our governors for discussion at the State Executive Council meeting and the Houses of Assembly will then pass it,” Fapounda said.
He also said the bill makes a proposal for the establishment of the Independent Amotekun Complaints Board which will enable residents report cases of abuses of power and corruption with a website for interested members of the public to comment on.
Also speaking on the bill, the governor said the law on Amotekun will be ready by Friday, February 14, across all the six states in the southwest.
Fayemi said: “A lot of people misconstrued what Amotekun initiative is all about.” “It is not exclusive protection for the indigenes alone, but for the safety and security of every citizen and resident in the six states, regardless of where they may have come from, and as long as they are legally resident and respect the law of the land,” Fayemi added.
“I hope that members of the Ekiti State Executive Council will give it expeditious treatment and we will be able to ensure that a team of the Commissioner for Regional Development, Ayodele Jinadu; and the Special Adviser on Security, Brig. Gen. Ebenezar Ogundana (retd), can immediately start the implementation phase of the Amotekun Corps.”
The governor, who disabused the minds of those that misconstrued the concept of Amotekun, described it as a logical extension of the community policing initiative of the Federal Government.
He said, “A lot of people out there have completely misconstrued what Amotekun is all about. The Amotekun initiative put together by the governors of the South-West is not about exclusive protection for the indigenes of the South-West.
