There is every indication that the bill seeking to amend the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Corps Agency law to accommodate a unit to be called Amotekun Corps will be passed by the House of Assembly today.
The report of the public hearing was presented by the Chairman of the Committee on Information, Strategy and Security, Tunde Braimoh, at plenary yesterday.
During the debate, some amendments were made and the committee was directed to incorporate the amendments in its report and bring it back to the House today.
The House may adopt the report today and subsequently take the third reading, which is more of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, and pass the bill for the governor’s assent.
Some of the amendments to the report include: Amotekun Corps must not operate like the police; they are not to be hired and cannot follow politicians or be used for political purposes.
That if you have spent 20 years and above in Lagos and are able to speak the Yoruba language, you are eligible for recruitment into the Amotekun Corps; that Amotekun is not a regional outfit but can collaborate with other states.
That Amotekun should bear arms and they must be people who are mentally balanced.
That the name of the law is Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) not Amotekun and that an Amotekun commander will be under the LNSC boss.
The lawmakers also clarified that the animal in the Amotekun logo is Leopard and not Cheetah.
As Southwest states move to perfect the legislative processes leading to the take-off of Operation Amotekun, Nigerians from other parts of the country are being urged to be open minded about the security outfit.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja, a security expert, Jackson Leka Ojo, urged non-Yoruba not to see the Amotekun Corps as exclusively for the protection of Southwest people.
He said when the Amotekun Corps comes on stream; it will protect the indigenes and non-indigenes.
Ojo also said that the concept of the Corps embraced the protection of people of diverse ethnic groups, who might find themselves travelling through any of the six Southwest states to their destinations.
The security expert said Amotekun will not discriminate when it comes to dealing with criminals of Southwest origin anywhere they may be found.
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