Feud On Amotekun, Unfortuante – Ex-INEC Chief

The former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Lai Olurode has described the recent feud among some of Nigeria’s elite on Amotekun as unfortunate.
This, the Professor of Sociology said was because Nigeria’s security landscape remains challenging and impervious to previous interventions.
According to him, not demonstrating unity among the elite will surely send a wrong signal to hoodlums and  miscreants.
He said: “Our security personnel are overwhelmed. Young men and women (the security agencies) are sacrificing their lives rather than conceding a foot of Nigeria’s territory. The population of widows and orphans apart from those who had become internally displaced is on the rise. Schools and hospitals had been erased from the map (the battlefields in the Northeast). What we had assumed to be far is now by our doorstep and can no longer be wished away.
“As far as Nigeria’s security is concerned, a new lease of life has become inevitable. Old paradigms and dogma must be jettisoned. This isn’t the time for legal niceties and jargons. The artificial boundaries between federal, state and local authorities on whose role it is to secure life cannot be of primary concern. Nigerians care little as to the source of intervention as to its effectiveness.”
According to him, dogmatism about who to secure life and property shouldn’t have been placed in people’s thoughts.
“We are all being returned to the age of savagery and primitivism, the long-forgotten state of nature. This isn’t the time to sit on the fence but for leading elite to stand up for or against Amotekun. By the way, Amotekun is Leopard, more on the defencive than on the offensive. None should prevaricate on the symbolism and philosophy of Amotekun. The initiative by the Southwest governors provides a platform around which political leaders from other zones should build a formidable consensus and latch on to, rather than dissipating energy on its legality. If the Amotekun phenomenon works, it can be replicated with cultural modifications in other zones.”
The courage and initiative deserve applause rather than condemnation. After overcoming this initial reactionary response and assurances given, the next concern should be modus operandi, indeed, the structure and funding. Nigeria will be a better place for all with this federalism by default,” Prof Olurode said.