Amotekun bill gets approval in Ogun

The Ogun state government has approved the proposal for the establishment of the Southwest security outfit, 'Operation Amotekun', in the state.

The bill for the establishment of Amotekun was approved on Tuesday, February 11, 2020, at an Executive Council meeting which held at the Executive Chamber of the governor’s office in Oke Mosan, Abeokuta.

According to Premium Times, southwest governors had received copies of the bill to establish Amotekun in their respective states.

Following the distribution of the bill across all the southwest states, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun took the lead in the move by forwarding the bill to the state’s House of Assembly for passage.

The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Kunle Somorin stated that the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the State, Adegbolahan Adeniran, said the presentation of the bill before the state council followed the earlier approval by the Attorney Generals and Commissioners of Justice of the six southwest states.

Somorin said, “We presented the bill for the creation of the Ogun State Security Network Agency or what many call the Amotekun Corp Bill of 2020.

“Today, the Executive Council of Ogun State met and adopted a draft as amended of a bill for a law to establish the Ogun State Security Network Agency. This agency will comprise of the Amotekun Corp and this bill will be transmitted to the House of Assembly before the end of this week.

“It made all the Attorney Generals of the Southwest zone including Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, and Lagos States to come together with the intervention of the DAWN commission that has been piloting the process, and we are able to have a draft model bill to be adopted by each of the states in accordance with their local circumstances and situations as the need arises.”

Prior to this development, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo had stated that the recruitment forms for Amotekun will soon be rolled out.

According to Akeredolu, while the recruitment for the operation had begun, forms were yet to be made available.

Recall that on Thursday, January 9, 2020, governors of Nigeria’s six southwest states, launched the western Nigeria security network in Ibadan, the Oyo capital.