The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami(SAN) yesterday insisted that Operation Amotekun, is not backed by law.
He said the 1999 Constitution does not allow any regional security arrangement.
He added, however, that Federal Government would not oppose a working arrangement with the institution established by the Constitution for the provision of security, especially the Police.
The Minister spoke during an interview on a Radio Nigeria programme.
He said the Federal Government had “already issued its stance through a statement rooted in the law and the constitution.”
He said “regional security architectural arrangement by states is not tolerated by the Constitution of the Federation and hence cannot be rooted in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or in any of the extant law.
The excerpts of the interview were released by the Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations to the AGF, Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu.
He said: “The planning, execution, consummation of whatever security arrangement must be naturally grounded in law, rooted in the constitution and tolerated by the Law” maintaining that “for any arrangement to stand within the law, the bottom line is that constitutionality and legality must be factored.
“Provided that there is an aberration relating to constitutional compliance, I think the right thing to do is to ensure constitutionality and legality both in spirit, planning, concept and consummation.”
On the issue of state governments making efforts towards legislation that would back the operation of Amotekun, the Attorney-General of the Federation said the issue is about legality.
Malami added: “If you are talking of regional arrangement, for example, at what point did the state assemblies come together as a region for the purpose of coming up with a statue or a law that can operate within the context of the Constitution taking into consideration the Federating arrangement that does not allow or tolerate a regional State House of Assembly arrangement.
“You cannot independently, unilaterally operate in the provision of the constitution without recourse to the constitutional authority that is the bottom line”.
“Working together, helping the Federal Government in the provision of security is indeed a welcome development but it has to be rooted in the law and within the context of working arrangement with institutions constitutionally established and not a unilateral exclusive arrangement by a regional body”.
“In the circumstances of Amotekun, it is the idea of unilateral control that it is the problem without recourse to the institutional and constitutional arrangement that is put in place by our constitution”.
“You can, indeed provide whatever support and consideration but definitely it must be rooted in the Constitutional arrangement and so self-help by way of unilateral arrangement cannot be tolerated with particular reference to regional arrangement which is not rooted in the Constitution within the context of security”.
In another statement issued by Dr Gwandu, Malami slammed Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), who earlier asked the governors to ignore Malami.
“By asking state governments of the Southwestern Nigeria to “proceed to enact the necessary laws”, in justifying the legality of the establishment and operation of Amotekun, Falana is reaffirming federal government’s stance that the establishment of the operation currently is illegal.
“No amount of effort to hide the truth will work. People can be carried away by sentimental or emotional inclinations, but truth remains apparently palpable.
“The bottom line is that the current Nigerian constitution do not accommodate formation of regional security architecture. This is a fact which is undisputable and undeniable,’’ Gwandu said.
He added: “Falana is prevaricating and circumlocuting using evasive techniques when he was asked by the media to justify the presence of lacuna within the law which can establish or protect the concept of regionalism in any operation in the country.
“He was unable to supply answer to the question and failed to cite relevant laws that back the argument.
“It is interesting that no matter the situation, truth prevails. This arrangement called Amotekun is not backed by any law neither at the state nor at the federal government level.
“Amotekun, therefore, remains unconstitutional and illegal as already indicated.
“The federal government appreciates that legally-minded Nigerians have started to eschew emotions by offering legal comments on the matter as against being carried away by other inclinations.
“The office of the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice is committed to the rule of law and a constitutional democratic Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he added.
