The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay SAN, says that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN was wrong to declare Operation Amotekun illegal.
The law professor said that the AGF was also wrong to say that the South-West governors should have consulted him before floating the security outfit.
Sagay made this known in an interview published by Daily Independent on Thursday.
He noted that the AGF’s position was a mere “personal prejudice” that has no backing in law.
Sagay said, “I believe that the governors have no duty to consult him. He is Attorney- General of the Federation, not Attorney-General of South-West states.
“The state governors have their own Attorney-Generals who are equally as qualified as Malami is. So, if this is part of the conspiracy that anything that smacks of regional arrangements or organisation offends some people who believe there has to be direct federal rule in every nook and cranny of the country, that is own misery.
“But it has nothing to do with the law. As far as I am concerned, Malami is just expressing his personal prejudice, it has nothing to with the law. The Amotekun people are not paramilitary organisation.
“They are to apprehend those committing crimes and report to the police or they themselves can exercise their rights of citizen’s arrest which we all can do as individuals. I can arrest somebody who I suspect has committed a crime.”
He added that the AGF was free to seek redress in court if he disagreed with the state governors on the constitutionally of Amotekun.
Sagay added, “So, the AGF is just speaking out of pure prejudice and it is very sad that people of Northern extraction are never happy when we want to organise ourselves on regional basis.
“I don’t understand that. if you don’t want to organise yourselves, how can you stop others from doing it? It is pure prejudice and it has nothing to do with the law.
“The governors have no duty whatsoever to consult him and he shouldn’t aggrandise himself and arrogate to himself powers that he doesn’t have.
“I think the governors should just ignore him and carry on with what they are doing. If he feels aggrieved that people in some parts off the country are trying to secure themselves against crime, he can go to court to challenge it.
“That arrogant authority that he can dictate to states is very insulting.”
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