Rotimi Akeredolu, the Governor of Ondo State, has reacted to a video on social media in which a local security group in Katsina State has received the Federal Government’s approval to bear arms.
He argued that denying Amotekun the right to bear arms exposes the Southwest to life-threatening marauders and organized crime.
“The video making the rounds showing the equivalent of the Western Nigeria Security Network (Amotekun Corps) in Katsina, obtaining the approval of the Federal Govt. to bear arms is fraught with great dangers,” Akeredolu wrote in a message on Twitter on Wednesday.
In the message titled, “We Believe In One Nigeria, But We Cannot Have One Country, Two Systems”, the Governor said, “Denying Amotekun the urgently needed rights to legitimately bear arms is a repudiation of the basis of true federalism which we have been clamouring for.”
“That Katsina was able to arm its state security force with the display of AK47 means we are pursuing one country, two systems ” solution to the national question.”
“If the katsina situation conferring advantages on some in the face of commonly faced existential threats, it means that our unitary policing system, which has failed, is a deliberate method of subjugation which must be challenged.”
“The Independence agreement was based on a democratic arrangement to have a federal state and devolved internal security mechanics. We must go back to that agreement.”
“Denying Amotekun the right to bear arms exposes the Southwest to life-threatening marauders and organized crime. It is also a deliberate destruction of our agricultural sector. It is an existential threat.”
“We want to reiterate that what is sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander. Ondo State government under the doctrine of necessity have decided to fulfil its legal, constitutional and moral duty to the citizens of the State, by acquiring arms to protect them.”
“This is more so, given that the bandits have unchecked access to sophisticated weapons. The State government cannot look on while its citizens are being terrorized and murdered with impunity. We will defend our people.”
Amotekun also known as the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN), is a security outfit based in all the six states of South Western Nigeria, responsible for curbing insecurity in the region. It was founded on 9 January 2020 in Ibadan, Oyo State, as the first regional security outfit initiated by a geopolitical zone in Nigeria.
The security outfit was the response of the six governments in the southwest to the failure of the police and the worsening insecurity in the region.
Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, had declared Amotekun illegal, saying the governors lacked the legal authority to form it.
