Yoruba Global Alliance said Amotekun was created to offer security for the Yoruba land due to the “persistent, reckless, and murderous activities of Fulani herdsmen.”
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Yoruba Global Alliance has criticised President Muhammadu Buhari for permitting Katsina State Government to equip its security outfit with arms while denying same for other states of the federation.
In a statement on Monday, Director of Communications, Yoruba Global Alliance, Taju Tijani, accused the Buhari administration of double standard after it had earlier rejected calls for the South Western Security Network, aka Amotekun, to be armed.
The statement said, “We read with shocking dismay the blatant exceptionalism still being displayed by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. The president’s claim to integrity and national cohesion without fully living up to these virtues could not be more pronounced in the disturbing revelation that Katsina State Government, the President’s home state, was granted the permission to equip its security outfit with sophisticated arms, including Ak47, while denying same for other states of the federation.
“News had it that earlier this month, Katsina State Government announced its plan to recruit 3,000 individuals into its Special Vigilante Corps to combat terrorism in the state. No fewer than 600 have been trained in the usage of sophisticated weapons including Ak47. We at the Yoruba Global Alliance condemn unequivocally this nepotistic and highly polarizing policy in a nation governed by federalism.
“The South Western Security Network, Amotekun, was created to offer security for the Yoruba land. It came into existence due to persistent, reckless, and murderous activities of Fulani herdsmen who have become an existential threat in Yoruba land. Amotekun opened a Pandora box of deception and the crisis of our coexistence. The South West leaders specifically asked the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to allow Amotekun operatives bear arms but were denied. It became a contentious issue between the Northern Caliphate and the South West. Till date that outfit is denied that mandatory necessity.
READ ALSO:
“We recall the furore over the creation of Amotekun and the Caliphate’s bulldog reaction to its existence which was a clear demonstration of their unhidden agenda to keep South Western Nigeria under perpetual captivity, slavery and domination. The brouhaha that trailed Amotekun also brought into sharp focus the polemical resistance to the idea of Yoruba collective security and protection. Amotekun was perceived as disservice to our unity.
“We also remember that the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, Malam Abubakar Malami, in a moment of kinship loyalty to his Caliphate paymasters, issued a statement that declared Amotekun an illegal security outfit. His rebranding of Amotekun as an illegal structure generated a measure of scorn, anger, and derision worldwide.
“The Yoruba Global Alliance therefore condemns President Muhammadu Buhari’s partisan and bigoted politics of allowing identarian right to his home state of Katsina by arming the Special Vigilante Corps with sophisticated weapons but denying the other states of the federation same right. What is good for the goose should automatically be good for gander.
“This self-perpetuating political impunity could lead to other states of the federation arming their security outfits illegally which may lead to uncontrolled arms proliferation in the country. And others may be forced to go underground with its dire consequences.
“As President Muhammadu Buhari navigates the throes of his last leg as leader of this country, justice, equity, and balance should be his legacy and not a polarizing tactics that serves to set us apart. We in the Yoruba Global Alliance therefore demand an immediate issuance of licence for Amotekun and other security outfits to bear arms to defend their people as is the case in Katsina State.
“And now that all the states of the Federation, all traditional rulers and the National Assembly have in unison agreed on the immediate establishment of state and local government police, it is expected that the president should send a bill to the National Assembly or invoke his Executive Order to get the much-needed Force established without further delay.”