By Emeka Alex Duru
The face-off between the Police and promoters of Operation Amotekun: the Western Nigeria Security Network, on Tuesday, January 21, was all that it took to announce the outfit as a major issue in the land. Governors of the South West, had on January 9, in Ibadan, Oyo State, unveiled the Amotekun, as complement to the mainstream security agencies in the country. Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) and Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), were present at the event. Gov. Gboyega Oyetola of Osun was represented by his deputy, Benedit Alabi while Gov. Dapo Abiodun of Ogun was represented by his deputy, Noimot Salako-Oyedele.
Fayemi, Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), had at the forum, explained the essence of the outfit, emphasizing that it was not a duplication or replacement for the Nigerian Police. He said: “Amotekun is a complement that will give our people confidence that they are being looked after by those they elected into office.
“So, we do not want this to create fear in the mind of anybody as we are not creating a regional police force and are fully aware of the steps we must take to have state police. We do not want anybody to misconstrue the concept of Amotekun.”
Apparently riding on the perceived success of the launch, supporters of the project in all the six states of the South West, had planned solidarity walk to be led by its state coordinators, on January 21. But that was when the disquiet occasioned by the establishment of the outfit, began to take shape. In Lagos, the Police took over the Freedom Park, Ojota venue for the solidarity walk. Elsewhere in the region, the exercise did not record much success.
The police in taking the action, had apparently relied on reported objection to the project by the Attorney General, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, who was initially quoted to have described it as illegal. In faulting Amotekun, Malami had allegedly argued that “no state government, whether singly or in a group has the legal right and competence to establish any form of organisation or agency for the defence of Nigeria or any of its constituent parts”.
In a twist however, Malami on Thursday, January 23, reportedly revoked his earlier comment about the establishment of the Security Outfit, claiming that he was misinterpreted by the six southwest governors and the people of Western Nigeria.
“I was misinterpreted on Operation Amotekun. I did not say it’s Illegal. I said the Operation Amotekun should be properly backed by law, so if at the end of this Government, if the Operation has been backed by law, any Government that eventually succeeded this government will not rubbish the Operation.
“So, it just an advised to the State Governors to use their power and the State Houses of Assemblies in their various States to enact a law that will make the Operation more effective”, he stated while addressing an interview on Radio Nigeria Abuja. The sudden volte-face by the Minister thus, created doubts on the actual position of the federal government on the project.
The uncertain position of the government on one hand and the resolve by the South West political elite to forge ahead with the agenda, on the other hand, has made Amotekun, the topical issue in the country. Supporters of the project, who cut across different strata of the south West, insist that there is no going back on it, given the crushing security challenge in the country. Ready instances on why the initiative should stay include the obvious limitations of the regular police and other security platforms in securing the life and property of residents and citizens of the region. The recent infiltration of the murderous Cattle Fulani into the zone and upsurge in kidnapping and other criminal activities, have also caused great discomfort to the leadership of the zone. In the face of these crippling challenges, the lethargy on the part of the federal government to rise up to the occasion, has won even the most ardent supporters of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in the South West, to the Amotekun agenda.
To demonstrate the seriousness attached to the project, all the governors of the region, have extended monetary and material support to it. Again, aside Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the other five belong to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the President. That, analysts argue, takes off the suspicion of the project being an exercise at confronting the federal government. There is rather, possibly, the angle of the governors yielding to the project in a bid to listen to their people or face the consequences – in this case, not getting re-election at the end of their first term. Apart from Fayemi who is in his second term, the others are serving their first term and may need reelection in 2023. They may therefore wish to be seen as being on the same page with their people on the critical issue of security. Other reasons account for the commitment of the governors to the project. And as an analyst has observed, nothing, perhaps, in contemporary time, has unified the cream of the Yoruba society as the support for Amotekun.
In a system as Nigeria, where virtually every issue is politicized and ethnicised, Amotekun is bound to send out some fears. The establishment North is understandably uncomfortable with the project. Not willing to yield power to the southern part of the country at the expiration of the Buhari presidency, some of the political elite from the area, suspect the outfit as a subtle attempt by the Yoruba to put up an indigenous arrangement as a prelude for the demand for the restructuring of the country. They fear that losing their alignment with the South West will lay them bare in future political engagements in the country.
This fear is accentuated by the uncertainty of the response by the South East, North Central and South – South in the event of the South West having its way. For the South East, the success of the Yoruba having their way in Amotekun, may resurrect the latent agenda of indigenous platforms that will gradually free it from the current suffocating federal structure some of its citizens have wished to exit. One of such apprehensions is the possible resuscitation of the outlawed Biafran Security Service (BSS), even if in another guise. There is also the fear of the leadership of the South-South toeing the line to come up with their own local arrangement. The success of such chances would put the North at a huge disadvantage, it is said.
A Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Lagos State University, described these fears as potent and valid. “Politics is a game of enlightened self-interest. I can understand the fears of our compatriots from the core North. The success of Amotekun may deprive them of some unmerited privileges. It may place a check on the excesses of some of their kinsmen. Herders can no longer have it their way, again in all the regions in the South. In the oil basins, activists may begin to ask questions on those allotted the oil blocs and why it should be so. And for our brothers in the South East, that would mean granting them what has been denied them all along. That will mean granting them the licence to leave the country, gradually”, he said.
He however added that there is little the government can do, adding that the Amotekun project, is akin to a revolution whose time has come. He cautioned that applying force to suppress the agenda, may backfire because the people are sufficiently prepared to take it to a logical conclusion. In his words, “Amotekun, as I see it and going by the attitude of the people, is even beyond the governors. It is an agenda that the people have bought into, heavily and may require a great deal of tact to deal with”.
