LEGISLATIVE work on Operation Amotekun bill has started in the Southwest states. Houses of Assembly in Osun and Ekiti states have received the draft bill. The Oyo State Executive Council yesterday approved the Bill and transmitted it to the House of Assembly. Today, the Ondo State Executive Council will approve the Bill, according to a member of the Council.
Ekiti State Speaker Funminiyi Afuye assured that the bill will be given an expeditious treatment. He expressed support for the security outfit, saying it would go a long way to curbing the rising spate of kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery and all forms of brigandage and criminalities. Osun State House of Assembly will commence work on the Amotekun bill on February 24 when the lawmakers return from recess. Speaker Timothy Oweye, in a telephone interview, confirmed that the Assembly had received the bill through electronic mail from the Executive. The Speaker explained that the House will conduct a public hearing on the bill because “we want people to have input into how to go about it because the government cannot do it alone.”He added that the governor would sign the billing page by page before the House could consider it because when a bill emanates from the Executive arm of government, the governor must sign each page of the bill. Oyo state Executive Council yesterday approved the Oyo State Security Network Agency and Amotekun Corp Bill 2020 for onward transmission to the House of Assembly. The approval was given at the State Executive Council meeting. Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General Prof. Oyewo said: “We presented the bill for the creation of the Oyo State Security Network Agency and the Amotekun Corp Bill of 2020.“As you are well aware, the Amotekun operation or Security outfit had already been launched by the governors of the Southwestern states. However, it became very clear that there was a need for legal backing for these operations.“The Attorneys General of the Southwest zone including Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Lagos state came together with the intervention of DAWN commission that has been piloting the process, and we are able to have a draft model bill to be adopted by each of the states in accordance with their local circumstances and situations as the need arises.“So, what you see is that within this week, I know that for instance, Ekiti state had already done this, Ogun state had already done this and now Oyo state is doing this, we have the executives approving it for onward transmission to the House of Assembly for purposes of enacting it into law.“It is a synchronised process that showed that the zone is collaborating with one another. This also has the backing of the Conference of Speakers of the zone and so, it is not surprising that within the week and next week, all these six states within the Southwest zone will have passed the bill into law.