The military high command seems to have sealed the fate of state governments seeking to establish their own security outfit, with an admonition to such states on Friday to forget their move.
The service chiefs, rising from a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, advised all Nigerians and other “stakeholders, local and state governments, to join hands with the Armed Forces of Nigeria to ensure that our country is secured rather than looking at other methods that are likely going to negate the national community policing policy that the federal government has approved.”
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.
Abubakar’s admonition is seen as a veiled reference to the setting up of the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) codenamed Operation Amotekun.
The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had earlier, on Tuesday, declared Operation Amotekun as illegal because “it runs contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian law.”
Malami’s statement has been dismissed as illogical and inconsequential by many prominent Nigerians and groups.
