Comrade Kindness Jonah is the convener of Voice from the East (VEAST), an Igbo interest group. He is also the coordinator of Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) in the South-east zone. In this interview with CHUKS NWEZE, he applauded the Yoruba nation for Amotekun initiative, saying it is synonymous with the concept of Forest Guard enunciated by the South-east governors.
Please sir, what does Amotekun launched by the South-west governors means to you?
Amotekun, from its meaning is a Yoruba word which connotes keeping watch over a territory. It is however a metaphorical road map against external infiltration by criminals. In a typical Yoruba culture, the king or the war leader called Aare Onakakanfo is saddled with the responsibility of keeping the Yoruba land safe. That is the primary duty of Kakanfo. So, if we are to take it culturally, Amotekun is within the legal armbit of Aare Onakakanfo. Constitutionally speaking, it is within the framework of the Nigerian Constitution because essentially it is community policing.
But we don’t have community police officially yet, so is there no conflict?
We need to put the record straight. You don’t have to be a police man to embark on community policing. The Nigerian Police Force as it is can’t be everywhere, so community policing is to help complement the police work to guard the communities well. Like I said the police are not omnipresent at the same time, so whatever you can do to help the police do their work, you do it. Helping the police is a matter of reaching out to places the police cannot reach with intelligence gathering. The people know their terrain more than the police coupled with the fact that security is the primordial concern of everybody, no matter how lowly or highly placed. This means that security is the first law of preservation. We can now further explain the imminence of community policing through Amotekun which has prompted reactions across the country.There had been intermittent killings by armed Fulani herdsmen which is not restricted to the West but this prompted the governors of the South-west region to to sit up their primary duty of protecting the lives of their citizens. The Nigerian Police and the military have clearly failed in this direction because armed herdsmen gallivant every corner of the nation leaving on their trail killings, maiming, raping and castration which the federal government cannot deny but has remained adamant. The clarion call for the banning of open grazing but reserved settlement for herdsmen as obtainable in other civilised climes seems not to work because the government simply doesn’t want it to work. This thoughtful abrogation of duty and subcutaneous support for what is a semblance of Jihad is what has prompted Amotekun. The analysis of this is the simultaneous reactions from other regions of Nigeria aligning themselves with the South-west on Amotekun.
Don’t you think federal government would eventually ban Amotekun?
Already, the federal government through the Attorney General of the Federation has declared Amotekun as illegal by quoting some incoherent extant laws. It is incoherent because Hisbah police in the North-west which is clearly Jihadic and Sharia in concept has not been barred nor projected for proscription since it is meant to arrest and prosecute offenders. Therefore proscription would not stop Amotekun, rather, it would be an exercise in futility because the people must metamorphose in similar ways of ensuring self preservation in the South-west. It would also spark off counter reactions in other regions whose security fate are hanging in the balance due to the nefarious activities of the Fulani herdsmen. It is therefore a counter-productive measure. Already, many people perceive the federal government as being biased by using police and army to protect herdsmen in the forest while at the same time frustrating people from retaliating their incessant killings. Painfully, the same police and army have apparently failed to arrest and prosecute the Fulani herdsmen who are armed with AK-47. So, the exercise is simply squaring the circle because the people must protect themselves one way or the other.
Do you think Amotekun would suffer the same fate as IPOB?
The issue of suffering the fate of IPOB is incongruous with the reality on ground because you cannot fight multiple wars with the same ferocity concurrently and win. This is explainable on the fact that every other region would join in forming their own militia to fight the invading herdsmen and then one Nigeria concept would scatter. At the end of the day who wins?
Are you simply saying that Amotekun was created to check Fulani herdsmen?
Amotekun is formed to check the forces of insecurity in the South-west and not just Fulani herdsmen. This implies all forms of insecurity. So, the best the federal government can do is to encourage other climes to come up with their own terminologies on security upkeep but playing modulatory roles.
Is Amotekun in any way similar to Forest Guard established by the South-east governors?Thank you for this. Forest Guard is simply Amotekun. The difference is simply a matter of nomenclature. The South-east governors should have tagged theirs as ‘Operation Ogbunigwe’.
Since the federal government appears to frown at Amotekun, why do you think Forest Guard was not banned?
When they announced the Forest Guard, the same federal government stepped in and hijacked the control, implementation of the security outfit. So, it died on arrival, though not banned as it were.
Are you saying the Forest Guard is not working?
Forest Guard in the South East exists in name not in practicality. This is because its implementation was hitherto frustrated by the federal government.
