Finally, instead of apologising for misleading the nation on the legal status of the security outfit, the Attorney-General has decided to attack me without any justification. Notwithstanding such unwarranted attack, I am of the view that the belated volte face of the Attorney-General on Amotekun is a welcomed development.
My position on the Amotekun debate is not based on
sentiments but on the relevant provisions of the constitution and decided cases
of our courts. The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,
Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), has unequivocally asserted that Amotekun is illegal
and unconstitutional on the grounds that defence is an item in the exclusive
legislative list. He also said that it was illegal for state governments,
either singly or jointly to set up any security outfit under the current
democratic dispensation.
Of course, Mr Malami knows that I do not agree with him that
Amotekun is illegal simply because the enabling law has not been enacted. The
fact that the office of the special assistant to the Attorney-General on media
is not a creation of the constitution does not make it illegal.
On a more serious note, I was not surprised that the Federal
Government was initially opposed to Amotekun. Like Amotekun, the Sharia Police
called 'Hisbah' was ferociously attacked by the Federal Government. Even though
Hisbah was established by the Kano State Hisbah Law No 4 of 2003, the Federal
Government said it was illegal. In fact, in a letter addressed to the Kano
State Government, President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed concern over the
constitutionality of Hisbah. Thereafter, the President sent a fact-finding
delegation to Kano on the matter. Based on the antagonistic posture of the
Federal Government, the Nigeria Police Force took steps to outlaw Hisbah. Apart
from declaring Hisbah illegal and unconstitutional, the police arrested the
Commander-General of Hisbah and his deputy in Kano and took them to Abuja where
they were detained.
When the harassment of the Hisbah by the police continued
unabated, the Kano State Government approached the Supreme Court to test the
constitutional validity of the Hisbah Law. Curiously, the Supreme Court struck
out the suit for want of jurisdiction on the grounds that there was no dispute
between the Federal Government and Kano State Government on the existence and
operation of Hisbah (See Attorney- General of Kano State v. Attorney-General of
the Federation (2007) 6 NWLR (Pt 1029) 164).
Even though the suit was struck out on technical grounds,
the police stopped further harassment of Hisbah. Since then, other state
governments have set up similar security outfits to enforce Sharia Law or
protect the general public from kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent
crimes.
I have called on the South-West governments to enact the
necessary laws to back the establishment of Amotekun in order to
institutionalise it as I believe that it has come to stay. It is indisputable
that the six states in the South-West zone has no joint parliament. Hence, I
have called on each state House of Assembly to enact a law for the
establishment of Amotekun. However, since the six states have been grouped
together and recognised as the "South-West zone" by the Federal
Character Commission Act (Cap F7) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, they
are not precluded from collaborating in securing the life and property of every
person living or visiting the region. After all, the Federal Government has
never challenged the legality of Odua Investment Company Limited, the economic
union of the six states in the South-West zone.
Finally, instead of apologising for misleading the nation on
the legal status of the security outfit, the Attorney-General has decided to
attack me without any justification. Notwithstanding such unwarranted attack, I
am of the view that the belated volte face of the Attorney-General on Amotekun
is a welcomed development.
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