After Amotekun, Northern group proposes creation of 'Shege-ka-Fasa' security outfit

Weeks after the establishment of 'Operation Amotekun', a security outfit in the Southwest region, the Coalition of Northern Groups has proposed the formation of ‘Shege-ka-Fasa’ to help safeguard the lives and properties of citizens upcountry.

In a statement on Saturday, January 25, 2020, the group's spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said the move was necessitated by the "apparent failure" of the government to discharge its primary duty of protecting the lives and properties of all citizens.

According to the northern group, ‘Shege-ka-Fasa’ will serve as extra measures for self-protection in the prevailing insecurity situation in the region.

"In the prevailing circumstances, the North is even more genuinely entitled to be angry at the rate its people are attacked, killed, towns and villages vandalized, innocent citizens including children abducted, and terrorized, families traumatized and communities displaced on a daily basis," the group said.

“All this while, the North has persevered in a dangerous security environment fueled by outside interests that thrive on the supply of such deadly merchandise as hard drugs and other harmful substances and the proliferation of arms into the region.

“With the current level of anger, frustration, and uncertainty that is fueling communal disharmony and mutual distrust, CNG believes that the North should as well take similar steps to arrange for the protection of the region and its people from these daily attacks and destruction.

“Thus, failure of the authorities to provide proof of its capacity to protect citizens in all parts of the North as minimum evidence that they are serious about their responsibilities, would leave the people with no option than to resort to forming an Arewa Security Initiative to secure their people’s lives with the proposed codename “Shege ka Fasa”, the statement read added.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, says he was misquoted on Amotekun.

Malami, in an interview on Radio Nigeria, noted that he did not declare Amotekun an illegal security outfit but advised governors of the region to have a legal backing for the body.