Governors in the Southwest are involved in verbal clash with the presidency over who should control the structure and operations of the Southwest Security Network also called ‘Amotekun’.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, had said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily that the operations of security organisations set up by various states in the country would be guided by the Inspector General of Police under the community policing programme which the federal government recently approved N13 billion to kick start.
“Whatever name they go by, Amotekun or whatever, will be streamlined and they will be run in accordance with the structure as defined by the Inspector-General of Police,” Shehu said. “…So you are going to have a single type structure of community policing permitted all across the country and whatever is not in line with this does not have a place in the scheme of things. That is my understanding.”
But state governors in the Southwest have rejected moves to have the federal government control Amotekun.
Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, Governor of Ondo State and Chairman of the Southwest Governors’ Forum said that Amotekun would not be subsumed by the Nigeria Police. He noted that all six states in the region had passed laws backing the establishment of the security agency.
“A law set up Amotekun and Amotekun operates under its own law and it’s not going to be subsumed under any set-up. No, we will work together, it is a collaboration, but not that it will be subsumed; that is not the thinking and that is not going to be acceptable,” Akeredolu said.
The Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, also disagreed with the idea of having the federal government control the Amotekun.
“…Amotekun is here to stay with us and it will not be under the control of the federal establishment. It will be under our control. Security of our people is extremely important, because nothing can take place, as far as we are concerned, in an atmosphere of insecurity,” Makinde stated.
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