The controversy surrounding the creation of Amotekun, a Southwest security outfit tasked with the responsibility of curbing insecurity within the region, has attracted the attention of former Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
Gen. Babangida while featuring on Channels Television’s Newsnight, warned Southwest Governors to not start what they might not be able to sustain in the long run.
He said, managing a security outfit comes with diverse challenges much of which lies on funding.
He said, “They must equip them, you must pay them salaries. You must give them all the welfare they need. That is going to be a problem for the states. Where will they get the money to foot those bills?
“If they have succeeded in convincing the federal government to put out some part of the revenue for the purposes of that, I can understand that, but if they take it on themselves, it is going to be a problem.
“What we need to do is to have a closer look. We have a lot of security outfits; we have the army, the mobile police, the National Defence security, we have a whole load of them.
“I think they should be assigned specific responsibilities to lessen the financial burden this initiative would cost the government of the states in the long run.”
Whilst Babangida seemed concerned about the financial pressure the establishment of Amotekun could bring upon the Southwest States, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), see Amotekun as a potential security threat to Fulanis living in the Southwest.
The group in its reaction to the creation of Amotekun, said it would fight back should its members be targeted by the security outfit.
It said, “We have no problem with them as long as they will not target our herders. We have our own defence mechanisms. We fight injustice anywhere, not only in Nigeria. So, if they end up meting out injustice to us, we will fight back. That is the truth but we are law- abiding.
“And as herders, we must herd our cows until there is an alternative provided for us. If they give us alternative, we will go there and if they say they don’t want us, those that want to leave, will leave but what we will not sanction is anybody taking the law into their own hands because we have a history of fighting injustice anywhere there is oppression.”
