South-west Houses of Assembly tasked to pass law enabling Amotekun

Diaspora Yorubas in North America, otherwise known as Egbe Omo Yoruba, say they welcome the recent launch of a south west security network in Nigeria called Amotekun, and called on “every state assembly in the South-west to urgently pass the enabling laws to validate the establishment of Amotekun as a joint venture of the region,” according to a statement by the president of the association, Durojaye Akindutire, a medical doctor based in New York.

Citing the challenges of peace, security and order in the region, the association gave kudos to what it called “the foresight of South-west governors and stakeholders including political leaders, traditional rulers and especially DAWN Commission for the initiative,” and claimed that it has brought relief and peace to the region, which was enveloped by “unprecedented heightened state of emergency…in the first ten months of 2018 when kidnappers wrought havoc beyond imagination and citizens’ fear for their lives was at the highest point in decades.”

The association pointed at the economic loss the state of insecurity in the region has brought as well as the threat to prospective foreign tourists “since even many of the association’s members were reluctant to travel home on vacation” and said, for these reasons, they have nothing but appreciation for the governors and other stakeholders who pulled off the new security outfit.

Referencing the statement credited the Attorney General, Abubakar Malami who, citing legal and constitutional grounds, declared Amotekun illegal, the group said the principal consideration of any legal or constitutional regime is the peace and security of all citizens and asked “if an outfit established for the protection of lives is deemed unconstitutional, we fail to understand the legitimacy of such a Constitution”?

The Egbe Omo Yoruba encouraged South-west governors and stakeholders to hold the fort, arguing that “if Hisbah has been operating since 1999 and it is not deemed unconstitutional, Amotekun has a right to protect the people of Yorubaland from violent marauders who have not been effectively deterred by the existing federal security operatives.”