Amotekun bill: Lawyer calls for deletion of pre-action notice

TRACKING_____Akure lawyer and Rights activist, Charles Titiloye has called on the states houses of assembly in the southwest to remove section 35 which deal with pre-action notice of 30 days from the Amotekun bill sent to the houses for passage as law to give backing to the Security outfit.

He noted that Section 35 of the bill provides for a Pre-action notice as follows: A suit shall not commence against the Agency unless 30 days written notice of intention to commence an action is issued to the Agency and it must include the particulars of the intending Claimant, details of the complaint and reliefs sought.

The former Secretary, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Akure branch argued that the inclusion of 30 days Pre-action notice before accessing Court in Amotekun bill will be a violation of citizen fundamental human rights to seek Judicial review in Court whenever Amotekun security agents violates their human rights.

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“Amotekun is a security outfit whose action where its violates citizen fundamental human rights should be actionable within 24 hours.

“This section on pre-action in Amotekun bill is in conflict with section 46 of constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria which allow unrestricted access to Court when fundamental Human rights of citizen are violated,” Titiloye further posited.

He warned stakeholders to be careful not to create a security outfit that cannot be challenged until after 30 days. He said Nigerian Police Act did not have such provisions which bar citizen from approaching the Court within 30 days.

Titiloye noted that the security outfit in the proposed law has a lot of powers including the arrest of citizen.

He said that Courts must not be prevented from reviewing or checking the use of such powers until the expiration of 30 days issuance of pre-action notice.