We Won’t Allow IGP Control Amotekun – Western States Reply Presidency

The governors of the western region have rejected the position of the presidency on the structure and operation of its regional security outfit; Operation Amotekun.

The Director-General of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN), Chief Seye Oyeleye made the position of the western governors known.

His response is coming against the initial comments credited to Mallam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari who was quoted as saying on Tuesday during an interview that Amotekun will be structured based on frameworks determined by the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu.

Oyeleye, however, countered that Amotekun would only be guided by the laws passed by the states which established it, adding that in a federal system, states are allowed to have their security outfits as long as they are backed up by relevant laws.

The DAWN DG further noted that the community policing agenda been developed by the federal government should not be used to undermine what each state is doing about its security.

“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,” PUNCH quoted the director-general as saying.

“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.

“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,” he said.