26012020 - How bad an example was set in Zamfara

PAGE 10—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 26, 2020
AMOTEKUN AS SECESSION ARMY:
Yoruba are not
distracted by
fictional claims
—Prof Banji Akintoye
Professor Banji Akintoye, a historian of note and second republic
senator representing Ekiti Central, is the leader of the Yoruba World
Congress which organised the pro-Amotekun protests across the six
South-West states on Monday. Akintoye says the Yoruba will not back
down on the controversial security outfit
Amotekun has been a
k n o t t y
issue. Why?
The people running the Federal
Government have no feeling at
all for our difficulties. They
know that since 2014 our land
has been again and again
attacked, invaded actually, by
people from other parts of
Nigeria. And they have actually
made statements to the effect
that they are coming to kill, to
maim and to destroy, to take our
land and bring their kinsmen
from other parts of West Africa
to occupy our land. And the
Federal Government has done
nothing about that. And the
Federal Government has done
even nothing as far as cautioning
those people making the
statements and those people
doing those things to us. It has
come to a point that our state
governors decided to step
forward to take action. And we
are most grateful to them.
So the action is against those
who said they want to invade
South-West
What usually happens when a
country is being invaded is that
local criminals also rev up their
activities, to hide under the
invasion and do whatever they
have to do on a larger scale. And
so we have seen in the western
zone that as the invaders come,
attack, destroy villages, farms,
kidnap for ransom – as we saw it
in Chief Olu Falae’s case, whose
farm was attacked and he was
actually kidnapped - rape
women, kill people on the
highway, local
criminals have
joined them with the
mindset that they
can’t leave this thing
to the invaders alone
“as we too can take
advantage of the
situation to make
money for
ourselves”.
Are you planning
Oduduwa Republic?
What has this
(Amotekun) has to
do with Oduduwa
Republic? Our safety,
•Prof Banji Akintoye
We are not
backing down.
It is a process.
The making of
the law is part
of the process.
There is no
backing down.
We are moving
forward
p r o t e c t i n g
ourselves, our
people, how does
that have any link
with Oduduwa
Republic?
But that is what
some people who are
uncomfortable with
Amotekun are saying,
that the Yoruba are
planning Oduduwa
Republic.
They are not
comfortable? I am
sorry for them for not
being comfortable. They had
better become comfortable
because this (Amotekun) is what
we are going to do. We are not
going to be distracted by people
who want to drag other things
along to dissuade us from doing
the right thing. We will protect
our own. Of all the major
sections of Nigeria, we are the
only people who never said we
want to secede. And if we want
to secede, the whole world will
know but this is not it. We want
to protect our people.
So there is no plan for
Oduduwa Republic...
No. If there was a plan for
Oduduwa Republic, a lot of us
will know and I do not
know of any such plan.
Concerns on
Amotekun and
enabling law
The Houses of
Assembly are going to
take action. When the laws
are made, more details
on the outfit will be
known. What bothers us in the
South-West is the special
treatment being accorded some
parts of the country. As we have
pointed out, there is a vigilante
group in existence in the North.
We in the South-West are being
called secessionists because we
are doing exactly as they have
done. I think it is time we have a
sense of fairness in this country.
We have been unfairly treated.
So you are backing down until
the laws from the Houses of
Assembly are in place...
We are not backing down. It is
a process. The making of the law
is part of the process. There is no
backing down. We are moving
forward.
The idea of policing in
Nigeria, is there anything
conflicting?
First, let me emphasise that my
expertise on security is risk
management. So a lot of time
when I am asked a question like
this, I approach it from risk
management. I have looked at
the various responses, the
Federal Government’s response,
the South-West governors’
response and the response by
stakeholders. Yes, in the area of
policing, there are various levers
of support but what we have in
Nigeria is federal policing unit
and the Constitution has given
recognition for that. However, in
practice, there is no state in
Nigeria that does not have one
security outfit or the other in
form of vigilante or
neighbourhood watch
arrangement and funded with
the taxpayer’s money. That is the
reality but the constitutional
provision is the federal policing
system that we are all used to.
Meanwhile, some state
governments have even gone
ahead to pass laws that allow
them to create security outfits.
However, this is the first time in
our recent history that we will
have regional arrangement and
I think that is why we are seeing
this kind of reaction. From a risk
management perspective, the
major challenge with Operation
Amotekun is the fact that the
South-West governors and the
Development Agenda for
Western Nigeria (DAWN) and
other stakeholders involved in
the process have not made the
operational guidelines clear. So,
as a risk management expert, if
I am asked to assess the outfit,
how do I assess it when I do not
•Adamu
know the operational
guidelines? Unfortunately in the
midst of that are issues around
stigmatisation and profiling. So,
already, there are fears and I am
sure you have heard the
contributions by groups like
Miyetti Allah and other who are
afraid of that stigmatisation and
profiling. Something like that
happened in Zamfara where the
state government created a
vigilante body, and,
unfortunately, that body, using
profiling and stigmatisation,
targeted the same ethnic group
that is crying foul right now. The
result is what we are seeing in
STIGMATISATION, PROFILING:
How bad example
was set in Zamfara
— Adamu, security expert
Kabiru Adamu is a security expert. He speaks on the
controversy surrounding Amotekun.
Zamfara today. So from the risk
management
perspective, their
fears are genuine.
If we know the
operational
guidelines of
Amotekun, we will
be able to assess
the security outfit.
But the
objectives of
Amotekun, zero
tolerance for
crime in South-
West and
collaborating
with the police
and other
security agencies
to fight crime, do
they constitute
any form of threat
to the federal
concept of
policing?
No. But as far as
I am concerned as a risk
Something like that
happened in
Zamfara where the
state government
created a vigilante
body, and,
unfortunately, that
body, using
profiling and
stigmatisation,
targeted the same
ethnic group that is
crying foul right
now
management expert, those are
structures.
Objective will
reel out what
Operation
Amotekun is all
about, step-bystep,
especially
what it hopes to
achieve. The
other one is the
size of Amotekun.
What is the
recruitment
process going to
be? Already we
heard a group in
the South-West
complaining
about the
inclusion of birth
certificate and
state affiliation.
Lack of
transparency in
the operational
guidelines and
the objectives
give cause for concern.
On Hisbah, Sharia police, and
Amotekun
For now, Amotekun
operational guidelines are not
known to anyone. I challenge
anyone to make public the
operational guidelines of
Amotekun. But we know the
operational guidelines of
Hisbah, irrespective of our
various interpretations. And
there is a state law (Kano)
backing it. I don’t want to go into
the debate of which one comes
first, the hen or the chicken. The
reality of our situation is that the
Constitution recognises federal
policing and, as a risk
management expert, if
Amotekun is going to become
operational, I expect the South-
West governors to pass laws in
their various state assemblies,
explaining clearly and in a very
transparent manner, what the
operational guidelines are, what
the recruitment process is, and
then we can now interpret the
body effectively.