Governors of the South West states have said the Federal Government cannot determine how they will run the Amotekun security outfit.
A presidential aide, Garba Shehu, had said the Inspector General of Police would be the one to determine the structure of Amotekun, a joint security initiative of the South West states.
But the South West governors, through the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN), a commission set up by governments in the zone, have insisted that the Federal Government has no role in the management of the outfit.
Director General of DAWN, Seye Oyeleye, said Amotekun would only be guided by the laws of the South-West states.
Oyelele, who argued that Nigeria was operating a federal system of government, said states are allowed to have their security outfits as long as they are backed up by laws.
He said, “The houses of assembly in the six states in the south-west have passed laws to guide the operations of Amotekun in their states.
“I don’t know what he (Shehu) meant except he is saying that the order of the inspector-general of police supersedes the states’ laws.
“Amotekun is guided by the states’ laws. The setting up of community policing should not in any way disturb the operations of Amotekun.
“In any federal system, there are multi-layers of policing and the more the merrier; Nigeria needs policing at different layers.
“The operations of Amotekun are guided by the laws duly passed by the houses of assembly in the six states in the region and the bills were assented to by the governors.”
Oyeleye faulted Shehu’s comments on Amotekun, noting that the presidential aide’s position was contradictory.
He added, “When I read what was credited to Garba Shehu, I found it strange. The Ondo state Amotekun is fully operational. Even Garba Shehu contradicted himself while saying this. He said, on the one hand, the IG would supervise Amotekun, and on the other hand, he said Amotekun was guided by individual state laws.
“We are operating a federal structure and Abuja should concentrate on its own community policing.
“I don’t want to believe that they are setting up their community policing structure to undermine what any state is doing.”
