Legal luminary, Chief Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), has said that if the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami believes that the creation of Operation Amotekun was illegal he should sue the six governors in the Southwest.
Babalola argued that the Federal Government can’t sue because it can’t win the case.
Asked if the six states could sue the Federal Government on this issue of Amotekun, Babalola said it would be a gross abuse of court process for the Federal Government to expect the southwest governors to file an action against the Federal Government on operation Amotekun.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti on Sunday, Babalola based his premise of arguement that the Federal Government can not win the case if it sues because the FG should be the one to approach the court to seek redress.
According to him, the Federal Government should not have waited until after the formation of Amotekun before making its position known.
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Asked his opinion, Babalola {SAN} said: “In my opinion, the act has been done, Amotekun had been launched, let them go on. Anybody that feels what they have done is wrong can go to court.
”They will meet the governors there. All the govs would have to do is to show them the law, the constitution, sections 24, 40, 45. That is it.
“What the state governors have done is legal, so why should they bother? Let the FG try to go to court. It is a case that must fail if they go to court.
”They have not set up a parallel police outfit. No. The constitution says it is your duty to protect the interest of yourself and others and join together in doing so.
So simple. The case will be so easy to win.
“The Amotekun outfit is a protective and supportive outfit established by the governors of the Southwest.
It has its roots in the 1999 Constitution and the previous constitutions before it – 1960, 1963.
“Section 24 of the constitution provides that ‘it shall be the duty of every citizen to make a positive and useful contribution to the advancement, progress, and well-being of the community where he resides’.
”Well-being means the security of life and property.
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”How many Nigerians realise that they have a duty to assist and to protect the interest of the community and themselves?
“Section 40 goes further that ‘every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular, he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests’.
“When you put these two together, it shows that all of us have the duty to associate whether as Yoruba people or as state people to ensure that lives and properties are safe.
The Amotekun outfit has its roots in the constitution. It is constitutional, it is legal, it is proper”.
