Wednesday,
August 14, 2019 /05:33PM /OpEd By Reuben Abati / Header Image Credit: Thisdaylive
If anyone is looking for a perfect illustration
and confirmation of the “coming anarchy” in Nigeria, that person needs not look
farther than the on-going conflict and crisis of mutual distrust between the
Nigeria Police and the Nigerian Army. Turn away, for a moment, from Boko Haram
(Nigeria is still unable to find a solution to the menace of terrorism), turn
away from bandits and kidnappers (it is sad that the state seems to be aiding
and abetting criminality and impunity due to its incompetence, negligence, and
impotence). But you can not turn away from the crazy drama being enacted by the
Nigeria Police and the Nigeria Army, two strategic security institutions
assigned the responsibility of safeguarding lives and property of Nigerians and
the sovereignty of the country itself. Both institutions have been in conflict
in recent times. I argue that this is disturbing.
It is as follows: Nigerians woke up the other
day to hear the sordid tale of how in Jalingo, Taraba state, soldiers from the
93 Battalion in Takum, Taraba state killed three policemen and three civilians,
who had gone to arrest a notorious kidnap kingpin, one Alhaji Hamisu Wadume.
The three policemen were members of an elite police squad, the Intelligence
Response Team (IRT), and they had been involved in many operations in which
they distinguished themselves namely the arrest of 22 kidnappers involved in
the abduction of Chibok girls, the arrest of Evans, the notorious Lagos-based
kidnapper and the rescue of the Magajin Garin Daura, the traditional head of
President Buhari’s village who was abducted earlier in the year. These same
policemen and their colleagues had been working on the Wadume case. They had
investigated him and tracked him down.
With the help of three civilians who volunteered
as informants and guide, the police sent the crack team to go after Alhaji
Wadume. When they got to Jalingo, the policemen reported at the police state
headquarters and documented their mission. They then set out and arrested
Alhaji Wadume and put him in handcuffs. The next step was to take him in and
interrogate him in line with standard procedure. Mission accomplished? No. In
Nigeria, the unexpected is known to happen, nothing is ever certain. Just as
the police were busy tracking down the alleged notorious kidnapper, the Army in
Taraba reportedly got a distress call reporting that kidnappers had abducted
one Alhaji Wadume, and asking the military to come to the rescue. As it turned
out, the 93 Battalion sent out a team to rescue Alhaji Wadume. The dispatched
soldiers gave the police team the chase. The police version of the story at
this point is that the police men identified themselves and told the soldiers
that they were carrying out a legitimate duty, and that Alhaji Wadume who was
in handcuffs was the suspect. But instead of the two teams to co-operate and
work together, in line with the principle of “esprit de corps”, the soldiers
opened fire on the policemen, at close range, killing three of them instantly.
They also gunned down the three civilian-informants. By the time the dust
settled, the arrested suspect, who had been put in silver ware, disappeared
into thin air. The soldiers also vanished, leaving “blood on the grass.”
The police are rightly outraged. They have since
issued statements and have gone on a twitter rage, to question the conduct of
the Nigeria Army. They are angry that despite the police identification of the
slain policemen as officers on lawful duty, the Nigerian Army chooses to refer
to them as “suspected kidnappers”. The police are asking the army to hand
over the soldiers who pulled the trigger, effectively marking them out as
cop-killers. They have also raised five questions for the Army Headquarters to
respond to viz: “Where is the notorious kidnapper, Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume
“rescued by the soldiers”?, (2) How could a kidnap suspect properly restrained
with handcuffs by the Police escape from the hands of his military rescuers?
(3) Why were the Police Operatives shot at close range after they had
identified themselves as Police Officers on legitimate duty as evident in the
video now in circulation? (4) How and why was Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume
released by the soldiers? (5) If Alhaji Wadume is a “victim of kidnap” as
claimed, and properly rescued by soldiers why was he not taken to the Army base
for documentation purposes and debriefing in line with the Standard Operating
Procedures in the Nigerian Army?’ These questions are pertinent and there
are many more that should be raised.
The Nigerian Army has not been able to respond
to any of these questions; their only close-to-intelligent response has been
the self-indicting explanation that the whole incident is due to lack of
co-ordination and communication between the army and the police. It is sad to
hear that. If there is rivalry, conflict, lack of co-ordination and
communication among the various law enforcement and security agencies in
Nigeria, then the average Nigerian is in serious trouble. The country itself is
in danger. The utter vulnerability of the average Nigerian is show-cased
by the fact that whereas the army and the police have been trading brick-bats
in the Taraba matter, no mention has been made so far of the identity of the
three civilians who were murdered by the soldiers. The police seem to be more
concerned about their men. The Army are more concerned about protecting their
men too. To compound the situation, whereas a joint investigating panel has
been set up, the army and the police are at best working at cross-purposes.
What has happened is unacceptable. Those who
argue that the police should not complain because it is Karma at work, the
police having a notorious reputation for the kind of brutality that has been
inflicted on their men by the Army, are simply unfair. No human being deserves
to be killed in such brutal fashion. It is also unacceptable that the three
civilian-informants who were murdered have not been part of the story. In the
course of the fight against terror and crime in the country, both the President
and the service chiefs have always advised that the battle can only be won if
the people themselves assist the security agencies with information. The death
of those three informants in the hands of the Nigeria Army will certainly
discourage every future informant! In the past, the Nigerian military used to
attribute every act of impunity committed by soldiers to a certain “unknown
soldier”. Under military rule, particularly, the unknown soldier could do as he
wished. The Nigerian soldier was above the laws of the land. But the times have
since changed. The Nigeria Army certainly cannot claim not to know the soldiers
who committed murder in Taraba State. As the police have demanded, those men
and the officer who gave them unlawful orders, if that was the case, must be
named and made to face the full wrath of the law. The six victims of that
Taraba massacre and their families deserve justice. In a democracy, an army of
occupation, a gun-totting military on the streets of the nation, turning its
guns on innocent persons is an aberration, and a threat.
But this is the price Nigerians pay for giving
the military police work to do. The military and the police have two completely
different training manuals and operational orientation. The primary job of the
police is to ensure peace and safety, and to protect and serve. Soldiers are
trained by their drill sergeants to shoot and kill the enemy: “One shot, one
kill”, at close range. The culture of restraint at the heart of police training
is unknown to the military. This is why it is dangerous to involve soldiers in
the kind of police work that they have been doing in Nigeria. In the 70s,
Nigerian soldiers lived in the barracks, usually located out of town. When they
came to town, they were rare sightings. But that was until soldiers began to
mix with civilians and soon got involved in politics. Gradually, Nigerian
soldiers began to behave like those they call “bloody civilians”. It was
Alozie Ogbugbuaja, a police man who once drew attention to this when he
complained that Nigerian soldiers had become “pepper soup drinking
soldiers”. The metaphor was so apt; it drew the ire of the state.
Ogbugbuaja was punished for his effrontery.
If anybody were to say the same thing today,
however, I guess the person will be hailed for saying the truth. Soldiers are
now so involved in “pepper soup” work it is terribly ridiculous. The other day,
some soldiers assigned to escort money (N400m?) belonging to an officer were
accused of having escaped with the money. The said soldiers are still at large.
Whoever reported a case of kidnapping to the Army in Taraba, assuming that was
true, had no business calling the Army. The call should have been directed to
the police. When Governor Nyesom Wike wanted a notorious criminal called
Bobrisky arrested in Rivers State, he didn’t call on the police. He called the
Army. In Abia State recently, a soldier reportedly killed a motorcyclist
who refused to give him bribe. Once upon a time in this country, nobody would
dare offer a soldier a bribe, and no soldier will ask for it. Today, soldiers
now mount check-points where they collect tolls like the police.
It is absurd. The excuse that Nigeria is
under-policed and therefore the police need to be supported by the military
overlooks the difference in the orientation of the two teams. The result is the
disaster we are witnessing. During the recent general elections, the Nigerian
military was accused of having perpetrated violence in parts of the country.
The militarization of open spaces violates Nigeria’s democracy. In Zaria in
2015, Nigerian soldiers trying to clear the road for their boss gunned down
about 348 members of the Shiite movement! Our military should concentrate on
their professional duty of protecting Nigeria’s territorial integrity, while
the police should focus strictly on their mandate. Isn’t it curious that in the
light of the Taraba incident the military is now advising Nigerian soldiers,
travelling on pass, to hide from the Police by wearing mufti? Is that the end
of police/army collaboration? If the police are overwhelmed by the crisis in
the country, and unable to function efficiently, the leadership elite should
think more creatively beyond the current resort to hollow rhetoric and ad-hoc
measures. More police men can be recruited. Better training and equipment
should be provided. Police stations should be rebuilt and made to wear a human
look. Bad eggs within the force should be identified and flushed out, honest
and hardworking police men and women should be encouraged and
supported.
Perhaps the time has come for Nigeria to
consider the establishment of a National Guard, to serve as a bridge between
the police and the army. Where there is any incident that is beyond the
capacity of the police, the National Guard can be called in. In the
United States, the National Guard is a cross between the police and the
military; its members are basically civilians, but with enough training as both
police and soldier. For a start, the proposed National Guard should not be a
regime-protection mechanism, the type that was introduced briefly in 1993. It
can be a merger of the National Civil Defence Corps and the vigilante groups in
various states, trained differently and empowered. To set up a National Guard
in Nigeria however, there must be a thought-driven review of context: who will
control the National Guard? How will it be deployed? What kind of Nigeria can
accommodate a National Guard: a truly federal system, a restructured Nigeria or
a completely new Nigeria?
Previous Posts by Dr. Reuben Abati
2.
The Speech
Buhari Didn’t Make
3.
The People’s
Revolt in Algeria and Sudan
4.
The Obasanjo
Bombshell - Abati
5.
Ogun 2019
Politics And Deployment Of Violence - My Encounter, Reuben Abati
6.
Chief Anthony
Anenih: A Personal And Political Portrait
7.
The “Oshiomhole Must Go” Coalition
8.
Beyond Fayose: The Future Of Ekiti State
9.
The “Spirit Of Error” In Nigerian Politics
10.
Atiku And The
Rise Of Peter Obi
12.
Nigeria’s
Certificate Scandals
14.
A Brief Manual
Of Nigerian Politics – Beyond 2019 Soundbites
15.
Buhari, 2019
Elections and the Law
16.
Rule Of Law: The
President Got It Wrong
17.
Dauragate As A
Metaphor For Governance In Nigeria
18.
Understanding The
Crisis Of Defections and APC’s Response
20.
Dasuki’s Bail,
The Attorney General and Commitment To The Rule Of Law
21.
Hadi Sirika And
The Return Of Nigeria Airways
22.
Minister Kemi
Adeosun’s NYSC Certificate
23.
The Adebayo
Adedeji Example
24.
In Defence Of
The Fulani In Our Midst
25.
Ten Years After
Lamidi Adedibu
26.
Super Eagles And
Marcus The Pig At The World Cup
27.
“Just Do Good”: A June 12 Story
28.
Buhari And The
June 12 Saga
30.
The Impending
Implosion Of APC
31.
2019 And The
Politics Of Campaign Finance
32.
#Elections2019:
Nigeria’s Emerging Political Leaders
33.
Mission:
Impossible - Buhari’s Impeachment
34.
Where Is The
Nigerian Opposition?
35.
Nigeria, ECOWAS
and the Morocco Question
36.
The Kigali AU
Summit: Nigeria’s Diplomatic Blunder
37.
Lagos State And
The Politics Of Taxation
38.
Africa: A
Continent Without Democrats
39. Dapchi 110: The tragedy Of A Nation
Related News
1. Gender Inclusion
In Nigeria Governance: Focus on States
2. PMB Second Term
Cabinet: Profile Of The 7 Women Ministerial Nominees
3. President Buhari
Transmits 43 Ministerial Nominees List To The Senate; Screening Begins Tomorrow
4. Fmr Pres.
Obasanjo Writes President Buhari On State of Insecurity and Sovereign
Implications
5. President Buhari
Appoints 11 Aides
6. Buhari
Re-appoints Boss Mustapha As SGF And Abba Kyari As Chief of Staff To The
President
7. Elections,
Inauguration of Government and Appointment of Cabinet: A Comparative Analysis
of Nations
8. June 12th 2019
Democracy Day Speech By President Muhammadu Buhari
9. 9th National
Assembly: Ahmed Lawan Emerges New Senate President
10. President Buhari
Signs June 12 Democracy Day Bill Amendment Into Law