Governor of Ondo State and Chairman, South West Governors’ Forum, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, Thursday said those who protested or intended to protest over the alleged stoppage of ‘Amotekun’ regional security outfit got their information wronglyt.
He said at no time the Federal Government attempted to stop the outfit other than its observation of grey areas it believed should be addressed and which, he said, were now being addressed.
Akeredolu stated this while briefing State House Correspondents in Abuja on Thursday after a meeting of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the six governors of the South West in the nation’s seat of power Abuja.
Emerging from the meeting along with Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), the governor leading five other colleagues from the region including the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, was accosted on the staircase by journalists for to speak in outcome of the meeting, after the AGF declined comments saying “His Excellency (pointing to Akeredolu) will do the talking”.
In talking Akeredolu said: “We’ve had a very fruitful meeting and governors of South West were all there. The meeting was presided over by the Vice President. Honourable Attorney General was there and the Inspector General Police.
“So, we have rubbed minds and all of us have agreed on way forward. Most important one is that we are going to have the legal framework to back this Amotekun and this legal framework is going to be one that all of us will look at and must be sure it’s without any issue.”
Asked if the outfit would be put on hold until the legal framework was ready he said, “No. What I believe is that Amotekun is there. You know the Federal Government is starting community policing and in essence, really, (Amotekun) is about community policing and we are going to work together and see community policing and Amotekun work in a way.”
Asked why there was no consultation before the launch of the programme, the Ondo State governor charged: “No, no, no! Don’t say there were no consultations. There were consultations because we held consultations somewhere. What we had developed was what led to this.
“We just felt that, look, with all this noise outside, it is better for us to sit down; I remember, even immediately the noise started, I said that we are going to explore political solutions and all of us are here; my colleague, deputy governor of Oyo, who is PDP, all of us are here.
“We have looked at this political and legal solution to it now and all of us will do it,” Akeredolu said.
On the protest over Amotekun stoppage by Federal Government, the lawyer popularly called Aketi asked what protest and for what?
“The Attorney General has spoken. I am sure you all read the statement that he was misinterpreted.
“It is so clear that at no time this government wanted to stop Amotekun. That is what you must know about it. The Attorney General has spoken and it is alright by us,” he said.
