Amotekun Has Come To Stay, Soyinka Tells FG

Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has condemned in strong words the recent move by the Federal Government declaring Amotekun illegal.
While insisting that the establishment of the Southwestern security outfit is legal, he urged the Southwest governors to defy the Federal Government on Amotekun. He observed that the concerns over the criminal activities, dating back to 2012 was what resulted to the establishment of Amotekun.
“Whether they like or not, Amotekun has come to stay, because it is a creation of the people and you cannot deny a people their fundamental right to protect themselves since government has failed to provide such protection,” Prof Soyinka stated while addressing the media in Lagos on the statement credited to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, declaring the proposed security organisation by the South-West states, known as, Amotekun, was illegal.
Soyinka, however, warned President Muhammadu Buhari over actions that would lead the country to the point of irreversible division, stating that the current security concerns have given birth to the organisation in the country. He decried numerous killings of people in the villages across the southwest.
“I refuse to believe that any serious government will condemn the right of the people trying to protect themselves. And now some people who have been sleeping all this time and watching citizens killed, farmers sent away from their land are waking up and telling us this initiative is illegal and unconstitutional, they should go back to sleep.
“This country is sitting on a keg of gun powder implanted by inequality in administration of justice. If President Buhari takes a wrong action on this matter, he will wake up to find that he is the force that tore the country apart. He should stop making excuses,” he said
Soyinka urged the proponents of Amotekun to defy the Attorney General and go ahead with their operation, challenging the CJN to go to court if he has any objection.
Citing hunger and poverty as other factors that give rise to criminal tendencies, Soyinka urged that the governors should go beyond establishing the security outfit to creating a sense of alienation in a people can lead them to crime. He said: “Amotekun should not be the only solution.