Amotekun

Tunji Adegboyega

How dare you? This naturally should be the question one should ask when on January 14, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), declared the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) popularly known as ‘Operation Amotekun,’ illegal.  A statement from the minister’s office reads: “The setting up of the paramilitary organisation called Amotekun is illegal and runs contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian law. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) has established the Army, Navy and Air Force, the Police and other numerous paramilitary organisations for the purpose of the defence of Nigeria. As a consequence of this, no state government, whether singly or in a group, has the legal right and competence to establish any form of organisation or agency for the defence of Nigeria or any of its constituent parts.” Then, the subtle threat: “This is sanctioned by the provision of Item 45 of the Second Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) authorising the Police and other Federal Government security services established by law to maintain law and order.

“The law will take its natural course in relation to excesses associated with organisation, administration and participation in Amotekun or continuous association with it as an association.”

Although Mr Malami made the decision public, he could not have done that without consulting his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari. This is why I am surprised that many people keep blaming the minister for the declaration. When we see the whirligig dancing on the surface of the river, we should know that something is beating the drums for it. So, we should look in the direction of the president for whatever comments we want to make on the significant matter, be it for or against the decision.

One undeniable fact, however, is that the Nigeria Police Force cannot guarantee internal security, which is its primary function. The force is handicapped by a lot of factors, from insufficient personnel, to lack of motivation, inadequate and obsolete arms and ammunition, among others.

That the police are unable to guarantee security is so evident, even to the blind. As a matter of fact, that explains why many state governments assist the force, to augment whatever the Federal Government makes available to it, to make their states secure. Lagos State, for instance, has the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), which the private sector has also bought into, in realisation of the fact that business can only thrive in a secured environment. No matter how tempting an environment is, investors would think twice before doing business there if their investments cannot be guaranteed. Through the trust fund, the state government has been able to provide logistic support to the police and other security agencies running into billions of naira.

It is also because the Federal Government realised the inadequacies of the police that it brought in the military to complement their efforts. It was so bad that the army were on the streets of at least 30 of the 36 states of the federation at some point in time. Even as we write, soldiers are still in some places under one scary-named operation or the other. Soldiers have had to be deployed to electoral duties in recent years. All of these are aberrations because soldiers’ main duty is to protect the country against external aggression. And how else could a Federal Government have admitted that the police cannot secure the country from the criminals that are becoming increasingly sophisticated by the day?

There is no doubt that something is not right about not just the announcement, but more importantly, the manner of the announcement, especially when most of the actors are from the same party with the president. Was President Buhari not aware of the elaborate preparations by the south west governments prior to the launch of the outfit? This was something that was highly publicised. Or did the state governments go beyond the permissible, given our lopsided federalism? This question is apt, especially in view of Malami’s claim that the state governments did not consult him before coming out with the outfit. Hear him: “Finally, it is important to put on record that the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice was not consulted on the matter. If it had, proper information and guidance would have been offered to ensure that Nigeria’s defence and corporate entity are preserved at all times.”

Could this, indeed, be the real reason why the organisation was declared illegal? Could Malami’s response have been his own way of taking his pound of flesh from the pompous southwest governors for their failure to recognise his almightiness by seeking his input before launching the outfit?  I would be playing to the gallery if I tried to answer the question in the affirmative. I would have joined the bandwagon of those lampooning Malami for the government’s decision, a thing I do not want to do because, I insist, Malami could not have acted alone. His action had the imprimatur of President Buhari. Unfortunately, mum has usually been the response from the president in matters like this. It would be a departure from the norm associated with the president if this time around he ventures to comment on the issue. But never make the mistake of thinking this is his style of giving his subordinates the free hands to run their official affairs.

Our 1999 constitution says governors are the chief security officers of their states. Interestingly, commissioners of police in the states are not responsible to them. Rather, they are answerable to the Inspector-General of Police who in turn is an appointee of the president and who, more often than not, acts based on the president’s directive or his body language. Provision of security is the very basic duty of government. Ab initio, therefore, the governors have been castrated by the same constitution which envisages them to be chief security officers of their states, by not making the police commissioners report to them. In this matter therefore, they are like generals without troops. But the governors do not seem to be complaining; at least they are not castrated from accessing their security vote!

In all of these, however, it is the governors that I blame. It is not only on this issue of Amotekun, but even on some other matters that they could make things happen and they have, at best been timid about. Take the revenue sharing formula, for instance, there is no reason why the governors cannot bring about the desirable change if they are serious. It is an open secret that many of them control their state houses of assembly. We may say this is reprehensible, but that is what presently or largely obtains. In this case, it should not be difficult to get the needed two-thirds of the state houses of assembly to buy into whatever the governors push forward as what the revenue formula should be. The National Assembly can be taken care of in like manner, too. I do not know what the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) is doing if it cannot push for legislation on such serious matters and get them through.

So, what next? The southwest governors can approach Malami for his advice; that is if it is not belated because his announcement has sufficiently fouled the air. It does not even portray the Federal Government in good light. If it was designed to humiliate the southwest or their governors, the point is; it speaks volumes about the Federal Government and the contempt in which it holds the entire region. This is especially sad and bad for a government that is always accused of parochialism. A person who makes his friend the butt of expensive jokes over the failed party organised by the friend is indirectly indicting himself. What was his own contribution to help make the event memorable? Let’s even assume the southwest governors did not consult Malami for his advice, could the minister not have demonstrated maturity, and more importantly good faith, by calling their attention to the possible ‘pitfalls’ in the arrangement since the issue had been in the news months before the launch? Why did he have to wait until it was launched before declaring Amotekun illegal? The justice minister can only be exonerated if he did just that, even if behind the scene.

The truth of the matter is that the present security architecture is not working; it has to be rejigged. This is not necessarily an indictment of the Nigeria Police as I said earlier. Indeed, one would be unfair to lay the entire blame of inefficiency on the police because we all know their peculiar problems.

It would seem the only option left for the southwest governors is to approach the courts. The courts would have a better understanding of the difference between defence and security. And there would be nothing unusual about this. If the Federal Government can wait till after the last minute before announcing publicly that an outfit that did not just come into being overnight is illegal, nothing stops the southwest states from challenging the decision in court. The point is that, some of these issues that should be settled once and for all are allowed to linger because those who should challenge them in court lack the political courage to do so.

If Amotekun is illegal, then the Federal Government should look in the direction of some other parts of the country with a view to abolishing similar outfits, some of which are even working in collaboration with the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Let the governors fight this as if it was their security votes that are at stake.