On the Buharisation of Amotekun -By Segun Ige

Arising from President Buhari’s proclamation of Amotekun, a body of doctrine, fraught with heated controversies and contentions, have since emerged. This Buharising, or Buharisation, has generated transformational capitalist-socialist blocs, once again, on the political firmament. For one thing, its invention was without a priori knowledge of the citizens; the supporters of this stance have claimed that it tends to be disenfranchising and undemocratising in nature. For another thing, it does not have any legal backing; as such, the claimers have argued, it is largely unconstitutionally counterproductive, born out of mere intuitive knowledge of Mr. President, particularly with the Attorney General being an astute flag-bearer. Each of these blocs, ideologically speaking, rests on the epistemic lacuna of yet another neonatal, even typical, discursive feature of the Nigerian democracy.

In a discourse of contested nationhood such as Nigeria, nothing could be either right or wrong immediately, even though the ‘president’ pronounces that such and such be done it that it would better serve the people. It should not have been problematically given that the militarisation of unconstitutionally implementing Amotekun would be monumentally masochistic, giving the military background of the president. Rather, it should have been opportunistically appropriated by the occupants of the earth space. The diverse demonstrations of the demagogues in the corridors of power do debunk, in the Achebean aesthetics, the so-called “deo-odorised dog-shit” of their monochromatically programmed political demagogueries. The Attorney General’s declamation notwithstanding, I suspect the ‘checks and balances’ in that constitution has orbitally and exponentially been dysfunctional. Looked at economically, ‘circle of interests’ is what we have. Characteristically, it is becoming discombobulating, indeed disconcerting, that this “1999 Constitution” was ever deliberated upon: and on what basis, by the way, and by who, and for whom? Aren’t we sensitive enough to recalibrate, or even somewhat violate, anything unfruitful? Aren’t we intelligent enough to reformulate what has been formulated? After all, a group of ‘coco-nut’ heads came together to decide the fate of a country since 1999. Or do we need exorcism to desist from the colonial spirit of being bibliomaniacs, as it were, that we cannot use our ‘pre-colonial’, or what T. S. Eliot calls ‘historical’, sense? Who knows that’s the ‘pacification of Nigeria’ Achebe occasioned in Things Fall Apart? And why can’t a solution-proffering intellectual legally or illegally inundate a particular geography of the country with armed forces, seeing that this would curb the Amotekuns? I perceive, however, that uncritical-minded fellows might assert that: but “It’s primitive”; but “It’s region-ethnic”; but “It’s APC-made”. Well, I’m sure these peoples know internal security has long been an age-long altercation that, even if we haven’t come by any ‘unputative’ means as yet, we should be focusing more on externally demanding issues – essentially, the Coronavirus infiltrating in certain European countries, notably the U. S.; in fact, a little ‘it’s not my business’, we may well find it finding its way freely in the space. Remember the Ebola of 2014!

What is even more considerable, this Amotekun of a thing (clearly a regional policing) is not unattainable in foreign countries, especially such as Canada. As a consequence, the practicability and applicability should not be an ideological befuddlement to the hoi polloi in particular and to Nigerians in general. Yes, some have maintained that there should be ‘Amotekun Commission,’ which would necessarily de-emphasize its unconstitutionalism. Others even disdain the fact that the mumbo jumbo of the legalese, together with their bawling and hawing, would be determiners of the people’s destinies. Apparently, there’s no prima facie establishment of Amotekun. Does that begin to be our catch-cry with thousands of lives on the verge of vigorous plot-hatching Bokoharamists and in the country? Here we are killing the Amotekun meant to kill the Atekunmos! It should not fail to register my resentment for the rather undemocratic gesture of Mr. President. By and large, the prioritisation of order of importance is very essential. To my knowledge, it would be unpatriotic and ‘unleaderly’ to declare a developmental agendum (good for the country, no doubt) without the people’s knowledge – most importantly, the governors’ or, even more important – the Attorney General’s, in this case. Ultimately, then, these persons should have been consulted beforehand and not the ‘unintenselligently’ reordering, not as it were, whereby the Vice President has just held some deliberation with them.

It beggars belief that the Attorney General’s rebuttal of the legality and/or illegality of Amotekun and of Buhari’s action’s or assertion’s presuppositionhood should have been taken hook, line, and sinker. This has spawned unexpected but avoidable clamours of Yoruba leaders invading in the dramatics and in addition the silent observation of the APC Chairman, Ahmed Tinubu, revealing his seemingly cowardly silence of the important but delicate matter of Amotekun. To be sure, it is utterly delightful that the chairman did not condemn either Amotekun or President, at least linguistically speaking. Obviously, Obasanjo would not have leveled one charge or another against Osinbajo, Buhari, Tinubu, simply because the security of life and property underscores the essence of governance which, according to Narendra Modi India’s Prime Minister, ought to be ‘corruption-free’, ‘people-centered’ and, if I may add, ‘Amotekun-inclusive’. What the doyen of modern African literature Chinua Achebe has identified has the problem of leadership in Nigeria is still permissible by its people to permeate the country. He has tried to shed some conceptual-cum-critical light on the political cricum cracum through the humungous truth-to-life cupidity, venality and hypocrisy envisaged and exemplified by Sam, Chris and Ikem in his Anthills of the Savannah. I would suggest that these leaders read this novel, perhaps then we would begin to live right; the Reader-Response or the Mimetic methodological approach I would recommend. Ours, it might be argued, is a hemisphere and a comity of people where reading appetite has been sacrificed on the altar of buccal cavity – to put it simply, stomach infrastructure.

How else would this Epic fight-to-finish Amotekun conflict be delineated? The range of discourses, grossly typified by and pregnant with pragmatic intents and intentions, is rather unbecoming, if, as a result, we talk and talk and talk and talk away the lives of precious souls. Be that as it may, Amotekun is arguably yet another plausible means of reducing crime rates, more specifically in the suburbs. However ‘unlegal’ it might seem, the very vocabulary of how this Amotekun would factorise the federal policing of the nation should be of existential importance and inquiry. Not the burgeoning hullaballoo and the brouhaha of buffalos!

By Segun Ige,
08141688084; igesegunadebayo5@gmail.com
A graduate of English, University of Lagos.