Ololade Adeyanju/
Lagos lawyer, Jiti Ogunye, has faulted a statement by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, which described the South West Security Network codenamed Operation Amotekun as illegal.
Malami in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Relations, Dr Umar Gwandu, today, said security remains the exclusive preserve of the Federal Government and consequently declared Operation Amotekun as illegal.
Speaking in an interview on Channels TV News at 10, Ogunye said the statement by the AGF was self-contradictory because the section of the Constitution which he quoted bears no relation to the objectives of Operation Amotekun.
According to him, while the Constitution forbids the setting up of any outfit for the purpose of maintaining security within the country by any entity other than the federal government, Amotekun was specifically set to provide security exclusively in the South West and had therefore not violated any law.
Ogunye also said the submission by the AGF that he was not consulted by the South West governors in the course of setting up Amotekun should not be taken seriously because the AGF is not same as the federal government.
“The South-West governors are largely from the same party as the federal government except for the governor of Oyo State, so my presumption was that they had already discussed the issue at the federal level and had an understanding that the governors could go ahead with their plan.
“But if the AGF is now claiming that he was not carried along, then the governors should please go and carry him along because my understanding is that the AGF is distinct from the federal government,” he said.
He also said that developments in the country in the last year during which kidnappings and organised banditry became rampant, while the police appeared helpless had given citizens the right to self-defence.
The AGF’s statement reads in part, “The setting up of the paramilitary organisation called Amotekun is illegal and runs contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian law.
“The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) has established the army, navy and air force, including the police and other numerous paramilitary organisations for the purpose of the defence of Nigeria.
“As a consequence of this, 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.
“This is sanctioned by the provision of Item 45 of the Second Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) authorising the police and other Federal Government security services established by law to maintain law and order.”
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