The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, has declared the Southwest Security outfit, Operation Amotekun, as an illegal entity not known to the constitution of Nigeria and which can never be allowed to stand.
But when he was speaking on a telephone in a radio programme earlier said he had nothing against Amotekun but the outfit must be backed by law.
Malami attended a meeting the Vice President was the chairman with Southwest Governors where it was agreed on the establishment of Amotekun, that the outfit should be in conformity with Federal Government community policing.
Malami must have been taken aback when what he said on the radio went viral and also the outcome of the meeting which he attended with the Vice President and the Southwest Governors endorsing Amotekun.
He said further that the Nigerian constitution made no room for a regional army, pointed out that the government was not at war with any of the states of the federation.
Malami said: “No amount of effort to hide the truth will work. People could be carried away by sentimental or emotional inclinations, but the truth remains apparently palpable. The bottom line is that the current Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not accommodate the formation of regional security architecture.
“This is a fact which is indisputable and undeniable. Mr Falana was prevaricating and circumlocution using evasive techniques when he was asked by the media to justify the presence of lacuna within the law which could establish or protect the concept of regionalism in any operation in the country.
“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.”