In Support Of Amotekun

The raging controversy over the establishment of the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Operation Amotekun has again brought to the fore the ills of Nigerian society and the fault lines of the nation’s existence.
The security network launched on January 9 in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, was conceived by the South-West governors to complement the efforts of the conventional police and other security agencies in taming the scourge of banditry, armed robbery, kidnapping, murder and other sundry security challenges in that region.
According to its proponents, Amotekun is not an army of the region or usurper of the functions of the conventional security agencies but an initiative meant to fill the obvious huge gap left by the police in the area of neighborhood watch, intelligence gathering and early detection of crimes in the South West.
It is, therefore, cynical that an ingenious initiative like Amotekun will attract vehement opposition from some vested interests, including the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami. Rather than supporting the genuine innovation and patting its proponents on the back, Malami and his co-travellers, mostly from the North, are scheming to throw spanners in the wheels of the security outfit.
Malami did not only declare Operation Amotekun as illegal, he also went further to threaten severe actions against its promoters. A more disingenuous dimension was the rantings of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, the umbrella body of Fulani herdsmen, who warned South-West governors to back down on the security network or risk their region’s chances of producing the President in 2023. How uncanny and puerile can this be?
The Tide wishes Malami and his co-travellers good luck in their infamous attempt at demonising a well conceived initiative.
However, we commend the South West governors for rising up to the security challenges in their region a’la Operation Amotekun and we recommend similar security networks in other regions. We also commend the unanimous resistance of the people of the South-West to hold on to the security network in the face of opposition by some vested interests.
We believe that the establishment of Operation Amotekun by the South-West governors is a frontal response to the helplessness of the federal police to combat crimes in the region and the failure of the Federal Government to protect its citizens.
We recall that not long ago, the South-West was a flashpoint of security breaches where banditry, kidnapping and despoilation of people’s farmlands held sway. The July 2019 murder of Funke Olakunrin, daughter of an octogenarian leader of Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, by armed bandits along Ondo road, is still fresh in mind. Many other innocent citizens across the country had been hacked down in similar circumstances. It is, therefore, natural that the South West governors, who are chief security officers of their respective states, take the bull by the horns and rescue their people from unwanted onslaught and brigandage.
There is no gainsaying the fact that security challenges in the country have become increasingly daunting for the security agencies to combat and have, in fact, boxed the country into the Hobbesian state where life has become nasty, short and brutish. Needless to say that the security situation has stretched the security agencies beyond their capacity, such that there is a thunderous clamour for state policing.
Already, we are aware of the existence of some unconventional security networks across the country such as Hisbah police in Kano, Civilian Joint Task Force and various community vigilantees.
Amotekun is, therefore, not different except that it is regional in outlook and modus operandi.
While we agree that there may be constitutional limitations to the purview of Operation Amotekun, there is no evidence that suggests that the security network is an effort to hijack the role of the police or in confrontation with the Federal Government. Malami’s fears are, therefore, needless and misplaced.
His postulation that Article 45, second schedule of the Constitution as (amended) gives the Federal Government the exclusive power to manage the police is akin to playing to the gallery. It is a mischievous attempt at clothing Operation Amotekun and any other similar security outfits that may spring up thereafter with the garb of a regional army ready to usurp the functions of the police. Malami’s outburst is also a futile attempt at throwing the law at community vigilantee or personal maiguard hired by individuals to protect lives and property.
It would have been more honourable and dignified for the AGF and others who oppose the establishment of Operation Amotekun to concede to the simple fact that the people of the South West have been pushed to the point where they can no longer afford to standby while anarchy and lawlessness reign in that region. They have seemingly taken their security away from the almighty Federal Government that has failed to protect them and their property.
That is the kind of result a nation gets when genuine innovations such as state police and security outfits like the Rivers State Neighborhood Safety Corps are not allowed to see the light of day due largely to some inexplicable and self-serving considerations.