By Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja
A former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has said that no court can stop the Southwest joint security outfit, code named Amotekun.
Fielding questions from journalists outside his Abuja residence on Sunday, the former Minister said no court in the land can tell the Southwest governors to sit quietly and watch their people slaughtered, if the Federal Government failed to defend the people.
When asked what would be the next step if the court eventually rule against the take-off of the security outfit, Fani-Kayide said: “We won’t abide by any court decision against Amotekun if we are protected by the Federal Government”.
He dismissed threats from certain quarters that the Southwest would be denied the Presidency in 2023 if the zone did not back down on the project, Fani-Kayode.
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“They should keep their Presidency. We are not interested in the Presidency and we will not be slaves in Nigeria because the days of bowing to threats are long gone so nobody should take us for granted”, Fani-Kayode said.
Stating that the Southwest will not succumb to the federal government’s decision to stop the region from securing the lives and property in Yoruba land.
Declaring that no threat or intimidation of any kind from any quarters would stop the project, Fani-Kayode said the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami’s statement that Amotekun was illegal, was a personal opinion.
He likened Amotekun to the Civilian Joint Task Force in the North East and Sharia Police in the North West, stressing that the Southwest leaders had resolved to stop kidnapping, senseless killing and rape of women by marauders operating in the region.
Fanikayode said, “Anybody that feels that they don’t have to support the people of the Southwest are mistaken. And anybody that believes that we can be in anyway intimidated by stepping down and saying we will not protect our people from those killing is mistaken.
“There is no going back and it is something we have firmly resolved about. We speak as one, we stand as one, we are solidly behind the governors. Evey group in the Southwest is behind the governors. it is across party line.
“Whether you are PDP or APC, it doesn’t matter. The fact remains that those of us that claim to be leaders in the Southwest have taken a decision. We will protect our people no matter what it takes, no matter what it costs.
“We have a right to self defence. People are being slaughtered. The leader of Afenifere’s daughter was slaughtered, Baba Olu Falae’s farm raided, he was kidnapped and beaten like a dog, he was insulted.
“Thousands of our people are being slaughtered in the Southwest and somebody will come and tell us that his interpretation of the constitution is that we don’t have the right to self defence”.
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