The Presidency has reiterated that only the Inspector General of Police is allowed to define the structure of the South-West regional security outfit, Amotekun.
According to Presidential Spokesperson, Garba Shehu, who spoke on Channels Television on Tuesday, the outfit will be localised, owned and managed by the Community.
While elaborating on the recent approval of N13 billion for Community policing, Garba Shehu said community policing structures across the country will be uniform as determined by the IG, including Amotekun.
According to Shehu,
“You know the constitution of the committees will be defined as including council chairmen, traditional rulers, religious leaders, civil society groups and all of that. So, you are going to have a single type structure of community policing permitted all across the country and whatever is not in line with this does not have a place in the scheme of things. That is my understanding.”
The Presidential spokesperson said further that the only confusion between Amotekun in the six south-western states and the new Community policing structures being introduced is perception.
They can choose their nomenclature, it doesn’t make a difference. Structurally, there is a governance structure for all state and local council policing mechanisms and this should abide in all of the states.
“Mind you, even in the case of Amotekun, there is no law that is regionally binding on the mechanism put in place. Each state parliament put together their own legislation, yes there are similarities in so many ways but it doesn’t take away the fact that each state Amotekun is an initiative of a given state in the South-West, he said.
He reiterated that all the State Governors were carried along by the Federal Government and the money set aside would be used for training, enlightenment and purchase of equipment.
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The Amotekun security network is already active in at least three states in the South west inclusive of Osun, Ondo and Ogun.
The regional security group has been instrumental in foiling Kidnap attacks and the activities of Illegal miners in Osun State.