Amotekun: Fayemi receives draft of legal framework

The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Monday received the draft copy of the proposed bill for the establishment of the Western Nigeria Security Network in the state.

Receiving the draft from the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Wale Fapohunda, in his office in Ado Ekiti, Fayemi restated that the security network codenamed ‘Operation Amotekun’ was designed to protect both indigenes and residents in the six states of the South-West zone.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Yinka Oyebode, Fayemi pledged to facilitate the discussion of the bill at the State Executive Council meeting and its subsequent passage at the State House of Assembly.

Fayemi said the initiative was a logical extension of the community policing initiative recently assented to by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and which the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had communicated to all the formation of the police force across the country.

Fayemi disclosed that all the governors in the region have agreed with the speakers in their state assemblies to expedite action on its passage and subsequent assent into law.

He said, “The bill is not likely to propose the exclusive protection for Yoruba people living in the six states; it is going to talk about ensuring that our highways are free of banditry, of armed robbery, of kidnapping, of all forms of criminality in our state. And to that extent, it is a logical extension of the community policing initiative that President Muhammadu Buhari has assented to, that the Inspector General of Police has communicated to all the formations of the police force across Nigeria.

“My colleagues and I were still in discussion about this yesterday and we have promised ourselves that this will be given accelerated discussion in our various State Executive Council meetings this week and we would also send it expeditiously to our various houses of assembly this week in order to give this an accelerated passage in their various legislature, so that by Friday the 14th of February, the bill that hopefully would have been passed into law, would be assented to simultaneously in the six states of the Southwest region.”

Earlier, Fapohunda revealed that the bill, which was expected to be presented simultaneously by the six Commissioners for Justice to the various governors of the region, contained the operational guidelines for the Operation Amotekun.