The Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr Wasiu Olatunbosun has reacted to the directive recently given by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami on the constitution of Local Government Caretaker committees in Oyo State.
He pointedly submitted that Mr Malami has no duty turning his office into a court where he can be dishing out instructions.
He gave these submissions while featuring on the third edition of Parrot Extra Hour on Radio aired on King 103.9FM in Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State.
The Commissioner also added that the State government has authorities backing up its decision to put in place caretaker chairmen for all the local government councils and the Local Council Development Areas of the state.
In his words, “Malami is the Attorney General and Minister of Justice for the Federation, not the state government. If there is any issue, what he should have done is to call the states affected and hear their own side of the story. You cannot turn the office of an Attorney General into a court. It is only a court that has that right to say you should do something”.
The commissioner, however, also reacted to the Attorney General’s submission about the Western Nigerian Security Network codenamed Operations Amotekun.
He said, “You see, that is what I said earlier. How can someone who is the Attorney General for the whole country believe that he’s the Attorney General for APC or he’s the Attorney General for the North? Before the Amotekun, we had and still have other vigilante groups in the north. And we have Civilian Joint Task Force for the North East. So if all these are existing in the North East and you could not come out to say that those domiciled in the North are illegal, I don’t know what moral justification he has and I could not place it anywhere in logical realm.
“The governors were elected to represent the people of Western Nigeria. Irrespective of political, religious or what have you, we have decided to embrace Amotekun. I don’t see any reason why somebody will now say that it’s wrong. Anyway, I’m proud to be an Amotekun”.
Dr Olatunbosun also mentioned that the Western States are working on the legal processes involving Amotekun. “The fact that we have not pronounced it does not mean we’re not taking care of the legal angle of Amotekun. All the Attorney General’s in the South West are involved in the legal process” he said.
Another edition of Parrot Xtra Hour On Radio will hit the airwaves on Tuesday, January 28 between 11 am and 12 noon on the same King 103.9 FM Radio.
Packaged by Olaitan Ige
