The gubernatorial candidate of Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the March 9th, 2019 governorship election in Oyo State, Engineer Hakeem Alao, on Wednesday declared that Governors in the South West region have a duty to protect their citizens when the federal government of Nigeria failed to do do.
Alao, who maintained that, though the issue of security is exclusively a statutory function of the federal government, insisted that the Governors; Seyi Makinde (Oyo) Gboyega Oyetola (Osun) Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo) have a duty as Chief security officers of their respective states, to protect the lives and property of their people in a situation where the federal government has not performed as expected.
While reacting to the establishment of Western Nigeria Security Network, also known as Amotekun and the declaration of the security outfit as illegal by the Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, Alao said that the establishment of Amotekun by the Governors became necessary in a period where everybody becomes victims of insecurity, particularly in the hands of strangers.
The AD gubernatorial candidate in a statement personally signed and made available to DAILY POST in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, remarked that the establishment of Amotekun was in order because the regular police have not been able to adequately secured the people of the region.
He spoke further, saying that no true son of the Yoruba race would go against the formation of Amotekun, considering the security threats and all forms of criminal activities going on across the country, particularly in Yoruba land.
Alao in the statement also commiserates with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi and the people of Oyo town over the unfortunate fire disaster that razed down the ancient Akesan market.
Alao said, “Although, the issue of security is exclusively a statutory function of the federal government considering how our federalism is structured, the south west governors have a duty to protect the lives and property of their people in a situation where the federal government has not performed as expected in a period where everybody becomes victims of insecurity, particularly in the hands of strangers, and the regular police have not been able to adequately secured our people.
“Engineer Oyedele Hakeem Alao declared his support for the establishment of Amotekun, a collective security outfit for the safety and security of our people in the south west states of the country.
“Considering the security threats and all forms of criminal activities going on across the country, particularly in Yoruba land, alien to us as a race, and have proved difficult to nip in the bud, which is a complete failure on the part of the federal government, no true son of the Yoruba race would go against the formation of the Western Nigerian Security Network (WNSN), Amotekun, as has been described by Dr Kayode Fayemi, the Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), as a confidence building security strategy pending the time community policing will be put in place by the Nigeria Police.
“So, Amotekun, as has been put together and unveiled publicly by the South West governors, it is surprising to hear the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, declaring it as illegal. It is appalling at this time to declare the outfit illegal by an official of the federal government. It is believed that the governors had taken all necessary steps before the public launch of the security apparatus on Thursday, 9 January, 2020, which they had been working on for the past six months. Why is the outfit being declared illegal all of a sudden?
“All things being equal, the federal government might have a good ground, sentiments apart, to nurse fear about the possibility of threat to the unified national security system of the country which may play out when other geopolitical zones start to establish a similar security outfit, which in the overall, might threaten the continued existence of the country. Perhaps the formation of Amotekun would have been taken through the enactment of the state and national assembly. Above all, a collective fight for true federalism would have been intensified to decentralize the security system of the country, particularly policing, so as not to run against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which our governors have sworn to protect, in the effort to serve our people. A wrong will never make another wrong right.
“The present governors in the south west would do well in securing our people if they could go to the drawing board to come up with short and long term plans that would secure the geopolitical zone socio-economically through aggressive food production and sufficiency, techno-scientific and industrial revolution to open up our local talents and industries. Alao will never support relegation or oppression against the Yoruba race in any disguise, neither the disintegration of Nigeria and will always be in support of the good causes of the masses. Amotekun has come and must come to stay once our people have embraced it!
“Alao identifies with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and the entire people of the ancient town over the burning down of the popular Akesan Market on Friday, 3 January, 2020, he commiserates with those who recorded a huge loss in the inferno and pray that God will resettle them back into life in manifolds”.
