The Houses of Assembly of states in the South-West, comprising Oyo, Osun, Lagos, Ekiti, Ondo, and Ogun states, have said they will give accelerated hearing to the bill on the Western Nigeria Security Network, popularly known as Operation Amotekun, as soon as it is presented to them by the Executive.
They, therefore, urged the governors not to delay in sending the bill to them for consideration and passage into law.
The governors of the six states in the South-West had, in a response to the spate of killings and kidnapping in the region, launched Operation Amotekun on January 9, 2020, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital to provide security for their people.
They had at a summit convened by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria in June 2019 agreed to set up the initiative, before it was eventually launched in January 2020.
Meanwhile, few days after the launch, which received commendations from many eminent persons in the region and beyond, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, described the initiative as illegal, adding that his office was not consulted before the governors went ahead to launch the initiative.
He had said, “The setting up of the paramilitary organization called “Amotekun” is illegal and runs contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian law. The law will take its natural course in relation to excesses associated with organization, administration, and participation in “Amotekun” or continuous association with it as an association.
“It is important to put on record that the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice was not consulted on the matter. If it had, proper information and guidance would have been offered to ensure that Nigeria’s defense and corporate entity are preserved at all times.”
The AGF’s position had been greeted with severe criticisms, with many eminent lawyers faulting the AGF for describing it as illegal. They, however, advised the governors to send a bill on the initiative to their respective state’s Houses of Assembly to give it legal backing.
The governors had also threatened to approach the court if the Federal Government continued to oppose the initiative. But following a meeting the governors had with the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo; the AGF and the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, they resolved to come up with a framework that would provide backing to the regional security outfit.
Sequel to this, Attorneys General and Commissioners for Justice of the six states on Friday confirmed they had concluded work on the draft bill for the smooth running of the regional security network.