Forget Amotekun Or Lose 2023 Presidency, Miyetti Allah Warns South West

The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has advised the South West to abandon its newly-formed security outfit called ‘Amotekun’ or risk losing the presidency in 2023.

Miyetti Allah’s counsel came few days after the federal government declared the security outfit as “illegal”.

Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, had in a statement said Amotekun “runs contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian law” adding that “As a consequence of this, no State Government, whether singly or in a group has the legal right and competence to establish any form of organization or agency for the defence of Nigeria or any of its constituent parts.”

But one of the six South West governors who came together to set up Amotekun, Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state, had insisted that the region would go ahead with the outfit regardless of the federal government’s position.

But the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, through its National Secretary, Alhassan Saleh, warned that failure to jettison  the initiative could cost the South West the presidency in the next presidential election.

“This Amotekun scheme is political and is not the solution to the problem of insecurity. What the South-West governors should have done is to continue to push for state police. Where did they expect to get the funding from at a time some of them are struggling to pay salaries?” Saleh asked in an interview with Punch.

“It is best they give up on this idea because it may affect the chances of the South-West to produce the President in 2023. The thinking is that if the South-West, a major stakeholder in this government, can be toying with this idea now, they may do worse when they get to power.”

The group further backed Malami for outlawing the security outfit, saying, “In fact, we are unhappy that it took the AGF this long to react.”