The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly (LSHA), Rt. Hon Mudashiru Obasa on Monday, declared that Amotekun, as a security outfit, in the state and the South West has come to stay.
Aare Ona-Kankanfo of Yorubaland Iba Gani Adams. Majority Leader LSHA Hon SOB Agunbiade and other contributors at the LSHA Public Hearing also declared that there is no going back on the establishment of the Southwest Security outfit code named Amotekun.
At the public hearing on a law to amend the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency Law, 2019, aimed at establishing “Amotekun Corps” in Lagos State, held at the state House of Assembly Complex, Alausa, Ikeja.
The Lagos Arewa community/Miyeti Allah, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Muslim community, Community Development Associations (CDAs), Community Development Committees (CDCs), state security outfits, traditional rulers, political party leaders both APC and PDP, Agbekoya, traditional worshippers, lawmakers, state Executive members, security experts and civil society organisations insisted Amotekun is a necessity that has come to stay.
The Lagos Speaker stated that the outfit had become important for the security of lives and properties of the people.
Obasa noted that “I’m sure we all recall the incidents before the establishment of Amotekun, the killings, maiming, kidnapping, and their likes”.
“In the wisdom of our governors, they decided on Amotekun,” Obasa said.
The speaker noted that the idea had resulted in different reactions from Nigerians, but that the South West cannot relent in the zone’s bid to ensure people are safe.” Obasa, noted in Lagos, the Neighbourhood Watch was initially, put in place in 2016 and that some states have copied the idea thus making it important for it to be amended to accommodate Amotekun.
The speaker said the bill on Amotekun would be accommodated in the existing law. According to him, “Amotekun has come to stay and we must stand by it, there is no going back.
“Amotekun has been supported by over 40 million Yoruba people and, as a result, it would only be wise to favour the bill” averred Obasa.
Gani Adams, however, called for National support for the operation which he said would further boost security in the zone and the country at large.
However, there was uproar of disapproval when the secretary to the Hausawa community in Alimosho, Ibrahim Abubakar speaking on behalf of the Hausa community and Miyetti Allah in the state, cautioned against provocative statements on Amotekun by some people.
Abubakar said they should be given a sense of belonging and carried along, saying “we don’t have anything against Amotekun but we want to be carried along,” he said.
There was also a shout of approval when Cardinal James Odumbaku, a member of the Governor’s Advisory Committee, GAC, said everything must be deployed to make Amotekun work.
Lagos Publicity Secretary of APC, Seye Oladejo, said in recruitment educational qualifications should be de-emphasised while criteria should be knowledge of the locality and culture of the terrain, recruitment should be locally based while a security expert, advocated for a technocrat in security to head the outfit instead of retired police or army officer.
A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who represented the state PDP chairman, Adedeji Doherty, also said PDP is in full support of Amotekun but advised that the engagement of personnel should be purely on merit not party, tribe, religion or nepotism.
While a representative of the CDAs and CDCs advised they and community leaders should be included in the recruitment of Amotekun as well as to work with them.
Other stakeholders said the roles of Amotekun must be clearly defined to avoid constitutional crisis while the Vigilante Group also wants to be incorporated in Amotekun since they have been engaged in community policing.
Reviewing the bill tagged ‘A law to amend the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency Law, 2019’, Majority Leader of the House, Sanni Agunbiade said: “Amotekun corps would be depicted by the image of a leopard, an animal with the capacity to penetrate anywhere.
“The lawmaker said the outfit would perform same functions like the Neighbourhood Safety corps.”
However, the operatives would be made to carry licensed arms subject to the approval of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and collaborate with security agencies in Lagos and other states.
Agunbiade noted that the exercise is not new but that it is an amendment to the Neighbourhood Safety law which has been in existence since 2016 to accommodate Amotekun corps.
The lawmaker added that the laws guiding Amotekun are all embedded in the Neighbourhood Safety Corps law and this is the reason for the decision to amend it.
