NO LAW PROHIBITS ESTABLISHMENT OF AMOTEKUN — AFE BABALOLA
Law & Human Rights
By Afe Babalola, SAN
THE Attorney General of the Federation was reported to have declared the regional community security outfit (Amotekun) illegal. I disagree with the Attorney General. On the contrary, it is absolutely constitutional and legal.
The issue of Amotekun is an issue of Public Safety and Protection of property. There is no law in Nigeria which prevents citizens from being able to secure their lives and properties. Indeed without protecting the right to life and property, no other right can be exercised as one has to be alive to enforce other rights as guaranteed in the Constitution.
The Nigeria Police does not enjoy exclusive jurisdiction when it comes to the protection of lives and property. As a matter of fact, in many parts of Nigeria, various outfits such as Civilian JTF, Hisbah Police, Vigilantes have been performing the duty of protecting lives and properties. There is nowhere in the Police Act where a citizen is prohibited from being vigilant to protect his life or property either personally or together with other citizens.
Citizens of Nigeria have always enjoyed a right to effect what is known as a citizens arrest where any person is found to have committed an offence before handover to the police for prosecution. In addition, private citizens also may in certain circumstances prosecute persons who have committed crimes. Thus in Part V of the Criminal Code Act S.275 which provides as follow: “it is lawful for any person who witnesses a breach of the peace to interfere to prevent the continuance or renewal of it, and to use such force as is reasonably necessary for such prevention and is reasonably proportioned to the danger to be apprehended from such continuance or renewal, and to detain any person who is committing or who is about to join in or to renew the breach of the peace for such time as may be reasonably necessary in order to give him into the custody of a peace officer or police officer…”.
A communal reading of sections S.272/273 Criminal Code will reveal that: a person may arrest a person who has committed an offence and prevent his escape.
Neither the constitution in Sections 214-216 nor the Police Act in Section 10 gives the Police an exclusive duty to secure lives and properties.
All the above support the establishment of the Amotekun which has been established to give an official teeth to the provision of the Criminal Code which allows private citizens to arrest and detain offenders and bandits and to hand them over to the police.
Given the provisions of the Criminal Code in Sections 272-275, the right of citizens to arrest any person for committing an offence is legal and may be exercised individually or communally.
In any event, the regional community security outfit known as Amotekun cannot be set aside by oral pronouncement by the Attorney General or any other body. Only the Court of Law can declare the establishment illegal.
- VanguardNgr

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"...Nobody can say that we haven’t done well in terms of security, we have done our best, but the way this situation is now, we can only pray,” the president said.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/274045-what-buhari-gov-lalong-told-plateau-citizens-over-killings.html?amp_markup=1

Security Chiefs yesterday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari said only God can police the country’s border.....the country’s security chiefs blamed the porous border for the rising insecurity.
https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/only-god-can-police-our-border-security-chiefs.html

This is the same President and his service chiefs talking discouragingly to Nigerians on their helplessness on the deplorable state of insecurity across the nation yet opposes any self-help move.Last last everyone go dey alright.So if not for politics,what right does these people have to tell us about how to protect ourselves?

The annoying thing with this useless govt is that they overtly refused to prescribe the:
-1).Fulani terrorists(4th terrorists group on the Global Terrorism Index),
-2).BH("A fight against BH is a fight against the north", Proscription of Ansaru/BH is unconstitutional)
-3).Hisbab police(terrorizing Christains down the core northern Nigeria),
-4).Arewa Youth(Issueing the infamous Oct-1 "Quit Notice" ).
-5).Arrest & prosecute uncouth northerners always talking recklessly(Junaid Mohammed, Tanko Yakassai Ango Abdullahi, Mobile Policeman that made a FB post in 2018 threatening to kill 200 southerners if Buhari is poison etc)
Yet all southern regional groups agitating for inclusional improvement in governance, activists calling for seperatist state/self realization(in background to the obvious subjugation of the regions) are quickly termed outlaws & proscribed with alacrity.Continue.It will touch everyone.