Police lack capacity, says lawmaker

Our Reporter

 

The Chief Whip of Lagos State House of Assembly, Rotimi Abiru has reiterated the commitment of the state legislature to ensure that the bill on “Amotekun” see the light of the day to complement the efforts of the police in securing the people of the South Western states.

The lawmaker noted that the police in its current form lacked the capacity to police the entire Nigerians.

Abiru who represents Shomolu constituency 2 at the state Assembly stated this in Ikeja during a chat with some journalists.

He said: “the Amotekun arrangement fashioned around the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Corps (LNSC) is different from the other states,” because according to him, “Lagos is far ahead, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have our own security challenges.”

“In the past in Lagos State, we have had to battle with kidnapping, robbery and criminalities such as the “Badoo”. But now our challenge now is the issue of cultism even among secondary school students and artisans in neighborhoods” Abiru stated.

The lawmaker declared that security challenges such as kidnapping, asassination and armed robbery would no longer be tolerated hence, the coming together of state governors in the region and the formation of Amotekun which he said has come to stay.

Read Also: Let Amotekun stay

 

According to Abiru, “the LAGOS state government foresaw the current security challenges and that was why the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Corps law was enacted in 2016 and the Corps members came into being in 2017.

What the Lagos State House Assembly is doing now is to Amend the existing law to accommodate “Amotekun” in the existing arrangement.

The Lagos lawmaker clarified that, “Amotekun is not state police neither is it community policing therefore the politicization of the initiative by some groups The politicization is baseless and uncalled for. Amotekun has special squad to help the Nigerian police in discharging its duties and responsibilities.”

He expressed the hope that the federal government through the Inspector General of Police would grant licensed arms for operatives of Amotekun.

On the Amotekun symbol, Hon Abiru explained that the image represents a Cheetah which is the fastest animal in the world and that describes the potency of the Amotekun initiative.

Abiru stressed that, We are going local on the Issue of Amotekun so that people can monitor them and that much is expected from the Amotekun team in the area of performance.

He said the assembly also took note that some participants in the public hearing, called for the oath of Amotekun to be in the traditional way and not with the Qur’an or the Bible which the proponents believe will make the operatives more committed and that minimum education qualification of members must be secondary school leaving certificate while the hunter in the locality should also be given a chance.

The Lagos lawmaker was full of hope that good laws will always follow the visions of the southwest governors urging all the security Agencies to uphold the tenets of their existence.