₦airaland Forum

Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), human rights lawyer on Monday said the declaration by Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice that the security outfit recently inaugurated by Southwest governors, Operation Amotekun’ is illegal is unacceptable.


Speaking with Daily Independent, Ozekhome said the same constitution that empowers the federal government to have its police force also give governors, who are the Chief Security Officers of their respective states the powers to cater for the security of the people in their territories without waiting for the federal government.
Speaking further, Ozekhome argued that there is no difference between Amotekun and Hisbah (Sharia police) which is in operation in the northern states and has been working to reduce criminalities in the states.

“The federal government cannot declare Amotekun illegal. They have no powers to do so. The federal government has its own police force. Section 214 and 215 of the constitution.
The same section makes the governor of a state the Chief Security Officer of his own state; meaning that within the territorial jurisdiction of a state, a governor has to provide security for its own citizens”.
“He doesn’t have to wait for the federal government. Amotekun is like the Hisbah that has been operating in the North for years which was set up to fight Boko Haram and other criminal vices. There is nothing special about Amotekun. We have the Agbekoya before”.



“There is hardly a state in Nigeria today that doesn’t have one vigilante group or the other. They are all meant to take care of the security of such states. Within a federal system of government, each federating unit is supposed to be independent and autonomous within its territorial area”.

“So, the federal government has no supervisory jurisdiction like a headmaster over pupil. They don’t have that power; otherwise, we are no longer operating a federation. It means we are operating a unitary system of government and we are operating a federal system of government, not a unitary one”.

Ozekhome who said the federal government ought to commend the initiative behind Amotekun rather than ban it further advised Malami to go to court if he feels aggrieved that the South-West governors are setting up their security outfit in order to protect their territories.

He argued that the current security architecture in the country, especially the Police Force is grossly inadequate to cater for the security of over 200 million Nigerians.

“So, if the federal government feels aggrieved that the South-West geo-political zone has decided to pull resources together to protect their territories and boundaries, if they feel very strongly about it, they should go to court”.

“It is not a question of rolling out an order like a fiat or a military dictat and say Amotekun is hereby banned. They can’t do that to a state. It is like telling the state ‘we ban your ability to secure yourself or have security for yourself’. It is not done in a federating unit”.
https://www.independent.ng/amotekun-fg-cant-dictate-to-states-on-how-best-to-secure-their-territories-ozekhome/

Aite

Buhari no wan steal money and he nor want make we steal money....

Buhari no wan provide security and he nor want make we inaugurate our own security...

Which kind country be this one??


FG has failed in the area of security..

Let the states go through constitutional means not through backdoor

Let’s stop sugar coating words... say BUHARI, not FG!!

Buhari plans will fail. The South will progress!!

i can only laugh

Any available door is acceptable

helinues:
Let the states go through constitutional means not through backdoor

hisexcellency34:
Any available door is acceptable

Strong head no dey open doors except you have the keys

helinues:
Let the states go through constitutional means not through backdoor

You are the one that erected the back door bah?
What's not constitutional about it?
If it's not constitutional, then having vigilantes and private home guard to secure you and your valuables isn't constitutional as well.

helinues:
Strong head no dey open doors except you have the keys

Tell that to juggernaut.

Good

helinues:
Let the states go through constitutional means not through backdoor

So chief security of his own state needs whose approval to secure his territory?

Does buhari needs any “constitutional means” before passing directives ?.

Nawa oo Buhari style of Governance has really be clouded the youth that a state government has no power anymore

no b lie