The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has told the federal government that the Western Nigeria Security Network, ‘Amotekun’, set up to combat crimes in the region, has come to stay.
NANS described the move by the federal government as tactical moves to shut down Amotekun and doom the zone, particularly the students, to insecurity and continuous attacks by bandits and violent herdsmen would not be allowed to succeed.
The Southwest Coordinator of NANS, Kowe Odunayo in a statement said the students received with shock the declaration by the Attorney – General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, that Amotekun was illegal, advising him not to play politics with the individual and collective security of a people.
Odunayo called on governors of the Southwest to stand on their feet and ensure that the laudable Amotekun initiative is not killed by what he called some enemies of peace in Yorubaland.
He said, “It is no news that insecurity has engulfed the Southwest among other regions of the country. This prompted our ever thinking southwest leaders most especially our governors to come up with a security architecture specially designed to safeguard the southwest.
“But it became a mouth-watering surprise for us when we heard that the powers that be outside our zone are not pleased with the move. This became more evident when a Fulani/Hausa youth group spoke though recently condemning our security architect even when it has nothing to do with them.
“But, we became perplexed when the Attorney – General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami said the security group runs afoul of the law, the news we received with great shock.
“Even if we want to play politics with everything, must we do the same with our collective and individual security?
“As much as we have played apt attention to the wordings of the statement, we have noticed no other thing other than politics and an attempt to block the west from defending itself against attacks by the north.”
