Tinubu Breaks Silence On Operation Amotekun, Says Initiative Laudable

Coming after criticism trailed his stoic silence on the South West regional security architecture, christened, ‘Operation Amotekun’, National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, and former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has said that the South-West Security Network is a laudable initiative but needs some operational and conceptual modifications to succeed.

Tinubu, who is rumoured to be nursing a Presidential ambition, expressed his view in a statement on Wednesday, while taking a neutral position on the issue that has so far generated controversy between the Federal Government and leaders of the South West geo-political zone.

He said: “As I understand it, Amotekun is to be another set of eyes and ears to assist the police. As such, it is but the second generation of Neighbourhood Watch expanded to a regional scale. Conceptually, there is nothing wrong with this. It does not appear to insult the constitution.

“However, my position regarding Amotekun is not blind or uncritical; there are several organisational and functional aspects of the proposal that could cause some problems if left unresolved.”

The APC stalwart was of the opinion that Operation Amotekun should have been fashioned to the peculiarities of each state rather than having a regional structure.

“Amotekun should have focused on grassroots local organisation at the state level without a regional command hierarchy. The regional approach may undermine efficiency. There is no compelling logic why the same personnel providing security informational assistance in Ado-Ekiti should be under the same functional and operational leadership as those providing assistance in Lekki or Akure. This will not lead to optimal performance.

“The regional approach has only limited benefit with regard to the procurement and maintenance of vehicles and communications equipment because this wider approach allows for economies of scale.

“The regional approach also helps tackle the growing incidences of interstate criminal activity. Some things need to be corrected before Amotekun becomes operational. If not, it will not live up to expectations. Thus, the current formulation of Amotekun is in need of repair before it takes to the road only to quickly slip into a ditch.”

He flayed governors of the South-West and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami for unnecessarily heating up the polity over the initiative.