In a bid to establish something similar to Operation Amotekun security outfit of the southwestern region, the northern youths under the auspices of the Coalition of Northern Group, through its spokesman, Mr. Abdul-Azeez Suleiman announced plans by the group to launch Operation Shege Ka Fasa. The phrase, Shege ka Fasa in Hausa means, ‘I dare you.’


He said this on Wednesday, 5th February, 2020,while addressing a group of reporters in Kaduna. He said “the outfit is designed to be the vanguard of the entire North, encompassing every ethnic group and religion and would be patriotic in its operations in addition to performing general complimentary tasks for enhancing security in the region.” Furthermore, he expatiated that the outfit was not created to compete with the activities of Amotekun but with the aim of supporting the fight of the police and armed forces in the ever increasing rise in banditry and kidnapping in the northern region of the country.


The group already has a logo designed with the picture of a roaring lion, representing courage and strength. He said, however,”We are just starting, we just initiated it, and we did not say we have inaugurated or we are going into operation. We will hand over to our emirs and governors. We are calling on them to embrace it, make the necessary adjustments and give it the legal backing it requires,”.


Also, he rallied for support and embracement of the 19 northern leaders. This, the group could not get as the move was rejected by the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar before subsequent denegation by the Northern States’ Governors Forum.The Sultan said the group failed to secure necessary approvals from the traditional rulers and could be perceived to be as a result of the failure of the governors of the states concerned to discharge the responsibility of protection of lives and properties entrenched in them by the Constitution, necessitating such unlawful move. He made the remarks during the inauguration of the Northern Security Monitoring Committee in Kaduna State.


A day after the sultan kicked against the proposal to set up Shege Ka Fasa, Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje was the first governor to publicly disown the CNG’s initiative. Subsequent upon this, the Northern States’ Governors Forum, through its Chairman and Governor of Plateau State, Mr. Simon Lalong, supported their colleague as he said the forum would never throw weight behind such an initiative as even the name was “derogatory and abusive”. In similar vein, the governors of Kaduna, Adamawa and Taraba state repudiated the said initiative by CNG.


While the mass disconfirmation by the governors and the Sultan seems to be as result of the existence of such smaller outfits in most states in the north, the group vowed to obtain the necessary permissions and backings from federal authorities, should their own leaders remain adamant.

References
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/02/10/northern-govs-reject-regional-security-outfit-shege-ka-fasa/
https://www.channelstv.com/2020/02/07/regional-security-sultan-faults-launch-of-operation-shege-ka-fasa/amp/
https://punchng.com/northern-groups-unveil-operation-shege-ka-fasa-symbol-in-kaduna/amp/