Opinion
The Superfluidity of Amotekun Ban From Ondo Election Security
The laws setting up the police and other security agencies in Nigeria have no specific mandate on election security. Rather, they have broad responsibilities covering all areas where such coverage might be required.
To avoid doubts, the Nigerian Police, under the Police Act, has the functions as stated as follows: “The Police shall be employed for the preservation and detection of crime, the apprehension of offenders, the preservation of Law and order; the protection of life and property and due enforcement of all laws and regulations with which they are directly charged, and shall perform such military duties within or without Nigerian as may be required by them by, or under the authority of, this or any Act.”
The State Security Service Establishment Act, states that, “The State Security Service shall be charged with responsibility for (a)the prevention and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria;
(b)the protection and preservation of all non-military classified matters concerning the internal security of Nigeria; and (c)such other responsibilities affecting internal security within Nigeria as the National Assembly or the President, as the case may be, may deem necessary.”
The Functions of the Service is relayed in Section 2[1][i] of the Instrument which reads as follows; “The State Security Service shall in pursuance of its objectives set out in Section 1 of this Instrument, perform the following functions:
(i) Prevention, detection and investigation of
(a) threat of espionage.
(b) threat of subversion.
(c) threat of sabotage.
(d) economic crimes of national security dimension (e)terrorist activities.
(f) separatist agitations and inter-group conflicts.
(g) threats to law and order.
Section 1 of the instrument No SSS1 reads, ‘Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions relating to the general duties of the State Security Service set out in Section 2-(3) of the Decree, the objective of the State Security Service shall be the protection and preservation of Nigeria’s internal security and economy against acts of subversion, sabotage and other threats to the stability of Nigeria.”
Because of the place of election in the functioning of the state of Nigeria and the deployments of strange devices by players in the game, the role of security in elections had become even more crucial. However, they have the general responsibility of providing safety for the people of Nigeria and ensuring a general keeping of the peace, law and order in all spheres of the country.
The Armed Forces’ role in election security is a misnormal birthed by the prolonged penchant of desperate politicians to import all manners of violent machinations during elections.
The involvement of the Nigerian
Prison Services, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Economic and Financial
Crime Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Nigerian Security
and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) and other Parapolice regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), Nigeria Custom Service, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration
(NAFDAC) is an invention of expediency, given that the security demands of elections in Nigeria required all hands to be on deck with the ever rising political tendencies to breach the peace.
However, the entire security architecture put together to protect voters, votes and electoral officials is a design of necessity and wisdom. Recent elections in Kogi and Edo have pinpointed the connivance of security operatives in the perpetration of electoral frauds. For reasons stated above, elections in Nigeria have already been over militarized and over policed.
Banning Amotekun therefore, from the Ondo election is superfluous and redundant. It is like trying to arouse a debate over a matter that has been settled. The Ondo State Security Network was established in 2020 after signing into law of its enabling Act in March.
The corps, according to its establishing act, was expected to have the power to collaborate with and assist the Police and other Security Network Agencies in gathering information about crime, crime investigation, arrest and prosecution of persons suspected or involved in kidnapping, terrorism, cattle rustling, cultism, highway robbery and other criminal activities.
It was also required to disarm unauthorised persons with arms and dangerous weapons and assist crime and accident victims.
During one of his outings, the Amotekun Corps Commander, Brig. Gen. Adetunji Adeleye(rtd.) was asked by journalists what would be the roles of the corps during the coming election. The Commander noted that during the election, while the police and other security agencies would be busy about the election, Amotekun operatives would be manning their regular posts across the state to make sure that miscreants do not take advantage of the absence of the police to perpetrate crimes in the state while voting is going on.
The Commander is well aware of his role in crime fighting in the state. We are not aware Amotekun was invited to join the Inter-Agency Committee on Election Security(ICESS) and as far as we are concerned, it is not a member of the committee.
We are all aware that there is a security gap in off cycle election in the state when all security operatives are deployed for elections. Although some of the miscreants have always found engagements as political thugs during the exercise, the absence of security manning strategic areas during an election process can be worrisome.
Amotekun ‘s role as a complementary agency cannot now be terminated because an election is holding. Just as the military is not expected to appear at polling units, but would be manning strategic inlets to forestall any Incursion of miscreants to disrupt the process, so the Amotekun Corps is not expected to police the election, but would be required to focus on its responsibilities of providing safety and security for residents whether or not there is an election.
The directive of the IGP banning Amotekun was a rehash of a similar order given by the former IGP, .Usman Baba, preparatory to the 2023 general election. His directives to DIGs, AIGs and CPs reads as follows: “Note and be strictly guided by the fact that all quasi-security outfits that were established by the various State governments and local communities and which are operating under different nomenclatures, structures, and orientations have no legal roles under the Electoral Act 2020 and within the electoral process.
“Hence, you are charged to ensure that they are not in any way or manner utilised by any political or community actor for any role during the electioneering campaign and other electoral processes in the countdown to the 2023 general elections. Such will amount to acts in illegality, and a potent threat to national security which could be inimical to our nation’s democratic interest.”
The concept of using Amotekun for election security is completely outside the framework setting up the agency. The achievements of Amotekun so far across the South West and particularly in Ondo State, in curbing the bloody herders and farmers clashes and relatively reducing crimes contradicts any conceptions that makes it something to be avoided in election security.
Notwithstanding the fears that state governors could abuse their powers, by using Amotekun or its like to rig elections, the same cannot be removed from what is currently going on with present federal security apparatus who are perennially involved in election malfeasances as captured by both national and international observers.
The noise of a ban on Amotekun presupposes that Amotekun had been involved in elections in the past and for that it must be stopped. Instead of banning Amotekun, its support role should be acknowledged, if not solicited, as election security will not automatically cover up for other simultaneous security needs necessary as residents file out to cast their votes this Saturday.
While we hope for a peaceful election, we will contend for a well motivated Amotekun Corps, standing up against the forces threatening to pull it down, so that Ondo residents can continue to enjoy relative peace, whether in times of election or beyond it.
Compiled by Oluwole Josiah,
Publisher
Newsbureau247.com
