Ekiti Assembly Passes Amotekun Bill into Law

Ekiti Assembly Passes Amotekun Bill into Law

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

Ekiti State House of Assembly, yesterday, held a special session to pass the Ekiti State Security Network Agency codenamed Amotekun bill into law.

The assembly, whose members were supposed to observe constituency visit yesterday,  shelved the legislative duty to hold the special sitting to pass the bill speedily.

The bill passed through the first and second readings during  an extensive  deliberation on the floor of the House, on Thursday, after the draft bill was  transmitted by Governor Kayode Fayemi to the House.

Subsequently,  it was  committed to the Committee of the House on Security and Special Duties, headed by lawmaker representing Ekiti East Constituency  II, Hon. Lateef Akanle, who conducted a public hearing attended by traditional rulers, farmers, driver unions, and other stakeholders , on Thursday evening.

At yesterday’s proceeding, Akanle read the outcome of the public hearing at the plennary, which included that  section 5 (I) of the Security Network  Bill the governing board should be headed by a retired law enforcement agent, who should be a man of proven integrity or equivalent in the Nigerian Army not below the rank of  Major General.

Exuding confidence that the governor will be thorough with the  implementation after assent, the Speaker, Rt. Hon.  Funminiyi Afuye, said: “we can be rest assured that the implementation  will be thorough, because we have not passed this bill in vain.

“You don’t need to preach to the converts. We have a governor who is an Amotekun himself and we have not passed the bill in vain, so you can be rest assured that the law will be accorded speedy assent by the governor,” he said.

On some amendments being sought to the final copy by members, Afuye added: “you can’t get a perfect law anywhere and if you pass a law and if it becomes problematic tomorrow, then the  mechanism of amendment will set in. “Look at the Constitution of the Federal Republic  of Nigeria, people are still saying some aspects should be amended. So, those contentious areas will be perfected at implementation level,” he assured.

Afuye commended the members of the security committee for the public hearing conducted, saying they didn’t shortcuit any of the stipulated rules of the House to arrive at the conclusion.

The Speaker  added that the report encapsulated the views of the people , who are yearning for a well secured and well protected environment.

“I commend your disposition  and call to duty to serve your people. I pray that we shall continue to rise and rise again.”

There was a heated debate on the qualification of who should head the board, as  the  Deputy Speaker, Hon. Hakeem Jamiu and Hon. Adeoye Aribasoye, craved  for the reduction of  the rank of the chairman of the board should be  reduced from Major General or equivalent to a lower rank.

Jamiu said: “retired Major Generals are not easy to come by and when you see them, they might be old or tired. So, let us bring down the scale to either Brigadier General, Colonel or equivalent .

“We have to think ahead of implementation level, so that we won’t run into crisis. How many Major Generals do we have around? Those that are still alive are old for such position, so I move that we reduce the rank  to Brigadier General or Colonel or equivalent in other law enforcement agencies,” he submitted.

The Leader of  Government Business, Hon. Gboyega Aribisogan, said with the passage, the state had again exhibited  leadership by example and pacesetting feature in the South-west.

The assembly at the sitting considered the Ekiti State Public Procurement Bill, at the first reading.

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