The Victory Rally proposed for Gani Fewehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota, Lagos Nigeria on Saturday 22nd Jan, 2012 organized by Save Nigeria Group and its allies and led by the fire spitting Pastor Tunde Bakare, (a man many have said I have resemblance with) couldn’t hold. The rally was to celebrate the gains of the peaceful Fuel Subsidy Removal protests that recorded unprecedented participation by many Nigerians of different social class crippled the economy of a week hereby forcing government to climb down from its high horse; reducing PMS pump price from #141 to #97. It was also to plan on further actions that are to be taken to ensure we do not lose focus and let the gains of the protests elude Nigerians.
The Save Nigeria Group spokesperson of SNG, Mr Yinka Odumakin, announced in the late hours of 21st that the rally would not hold owning to intelligence reports that some unscrupulous elements were hired by unknown persons to disrupt the rally; hence creating room for the Military deployed to the venue to unleash terror on us peaceful innocent citizens. More so was the coordinated bomb explosions that rocked the city of Kano (Nigeria’s second largest and most populated city) some hours after noon on 21st that killed over 178 persons and left many others injured and displaced. The targets of the explosions were the Police headquarters in the city, the residence of the Police Inspector General of Police and an office of the State Security Service.
The dreaded Islamic sect; BOKO HARAM was quick to claim responsibility. This was days after its member Umar Kabir aka (Kabir Sokoto) the alleged coordinator of the 25 Dec, 2011 Christmas day bombing at St Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger state during the Christmas service escaped from police custody during what the police called a search operation at his home in Abaji, near Abuja – Nigeria’s capital. The attack killed 43 worshippers and left 73 people hospitalized. Zakari Biu, the Commissioner of Police under whose command Kabir escaped is now under house arrest helping police with information on what role he played in the incident. Records have it that Zakari Biu was once dismissed / retired from Nigeria Police Force in 1999 on grounds of indiscipline, corruption and unethical practice. How he rejoined the force is a mystery yet to be unravelled.
The Police then headed by IGP Hafiz Rigim was quick to announce N 50,000,000.00 ($312,021.00) bounty on his head. This is a sum that the police couldn’t use to adequately police Kabir to search his residence. Nigerians weren’t surprised at this announcement as it seems to be the modus operandi of the force in dealing with very high value arrests/ suspects that the State should deploy its resources to effect. Nigerians didn’t take the bounty announcement serious as the police equally does not have such money to hand out to anyone that may provide information and the individual may possibly at the end be an unpleasant guest of the police to answer questions of how s(he) got the information. This tells of how much the institution stinks.
Over the years there have been calls to restructure the force to bring efficiency, but this has never happened. The government rather chooses the frequent sack of its IGPs for falling to perform, when the system is still the way it is. Sometimes the IGPs themselves have been alleged to have corruptly enriched themselves while in office as was the case in 2005 with IGP Mustafa (Tafa) Adebayo Balogun, who helped himself with over N20 Billion ($124,804,992.00)during his tenure. He plea bargained to return N16 Billion ($99,843,993) when he was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and was sentenced to a mere 6 months in prison which he gracefully spent in a cozy hospital room where he was receiving treatment for some unknown ill health believed to be designed to save him from the disgrace of serving his term in a prison cell. The returned loot was later said to have been mismanaged / missing by the same police authorities. In another instance N50 Billion ($312,012,480.49) part of the Police Equipment Fund meant to fund policing equipment was mismanaged in 2006 by Mr Kenny Martins; an in-law to Gen Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria’s former President). Nothing has yet come out of investigations and prosecuting the managers of the fund, yet the force is expected to combat crime effectively and protect the lives and property of Nigerians.
Some of the political elite and the government have in the past provided the police with only the resources to serve their corrupt, undemocratic, uncivilized and selfish purposes especially during elections and to cover up crimes they committed. It’s a pity that our society have now evolved to a state of serious insecurity and imbalance in which the capacity of the police and security agencies to keep to their responsibilities is now very much restricted owning to lack of resources, incompetence, lack of operational strategy, tact and coordination between agencies. I guess government and all that contributed the failure of our security and social system never knew we will ever get to this point; we can’t eat our cake and have it. One of such self serving acts played out in a larger scale on 10th July, 2003 when a serving Assistant Inspector General of Police (Zone 9), Mr Raphael Ige (now late) led over 200 police men to unlawfully abduct Dr Chris Ngige - a duly elected sitting democratic governor of Anambra State in Southeast Nigeria and hold him hostage for close to 24 hours.
The dreaded Islamic sect; BOKO HARAM was quick to claim responsibility. This was days after its member Umar Kabir aka (Kabir Sokoto) the alleged coordinator of the 25 Dec, 2011 Christmas day bombing at St Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger state during the Christmas service escaped from police custody during what the police called a search operation at his home in Abaji, near Abuja – Nigeria’s capital. The attack killed 43 worshippers and left 73 people hospitalized. Zakari Biu, the Commissioner of Police under whose command Kabir escaped is now under house arrest helping police with information on what role he played in the incident. Records have it that Zakari Biu was once dismissed / retired from Nigeria Police Force in 1999 on grounds of indiscipline, corruption and unethical practice. How he rejoined the force is a mystery yet to be unravelled.
The Police then headed by IGP Hafiz Rigim was quick to announce N 50,000,000.00 ($312,021.00) bounty on his head. This is a sum that the police couldn’t use to adequately police Kabir to search his residence. Nigerians weren’t surprised at this announcement as it seems to be the modus operandi of the force in dealing with very high value arrests/ suspects that the State should deploy its resources to effect. Nigerians didn’t take the bounty announcement serious as the police equally does not have such money to hand out to anyone that may provide information and the individual may possibly at the end be an unpleasant guest of the police to answer questions of how s(he) got the information. This tells of how much the institution stinks.
Over the years there have been calls to restructure the force to bring efficiency, but this has never happened. The government rather chooses the frequent sack of its IGPs for falling to perform, when the system is still the way it is. Sometimes the IGPs themselves have been alleged to have corruptly enriched themselves while in office as was the case in 2005 with IGP Mustafa (Tafa) Adebayo Balogun, who helped himself with over N20 Billion ($124,804,992.00)during his tenure. He plea bargained to return N16 Billion ($99,843,993) when he was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and was sentenced to a mere 6 months in prison which he gracefully spent in a cozy hospital room where he was receiving treatment for some unknown ill health believed to be designed to save him from the disgrace of serving his term in a prison cell. The returned loot was later said to have been mismanaged / missing by the same police authorities. In another instance N50 Billion ($312,012,480.49) part of the Police Equipment Fund meant to fund policing equipment was mismanaged in 2006 by Mr Kenny Martins; an in-law to Gen Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria’s former President). Nothing has yet come out of investigations and prosecuting the managers of the fund, yet the force is expected to combat crime effectively and protect the lives and property of Nigerians.
Some of the political elite and the government have in the past provided the police with only the resources to serve their corrupt, undemocratic, uncivilized and selfish purposes especially during elections and to cover up crimes they committed. It’s a pity that our society have now evolved to a state of serious insecurity and imbalance in which the capacity of the police and security agencies to keep to their responsibilities is now very much restricted owning to lack of resources, incompetence, lack of operational strategy, tact and coordination between agencies. I guess government and all that contributed the failure of our security and social system never knew we will ever get to this point; we can’t eat our cake and have it. One of such self serving acts played out in a larger scale on 10th July, 2003 when a serving Assistant Inspector General of Police (Zone 9), Mr Raphael Ige (now late) led over 200 police men to unlawfully abduct Dr Chris Ngige - a duly elected sitting democratic governor of Anambra State in Southeast Nigeria and hold him hostage for close to 24 hours.
The AIG later said he acted on the orders of a group of ‘powerful’ individuals in Nigeria’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Presidency that hails from the state who had differences with the governor. The same police on a later date supervised the destruction and arson visited on the state’s democratic institutions – House of Assembly, Government House, Independent Electoral Commission, Broadcasting station, State High Court and other property worth millions of Naira. Both crimes were committed in broad day light and till this day no one has faced trial for those crimes. There are many more of these where the police was used by people in the government to unleash terror and oppression on people. All these activities that are anti-social now make them to be dreaded by the public who should be their friend.
Friend? Not in Nigeria as they are best known for arresting innocent bystanders at a crime scene to pay ‘I no follow’ bail money, mount illegal road blocks for #20 to… tolls, ‘Wetin you carry’ money, unwarranted harassments, illegal raiding of neighborhoods and the popular accidental discharge usually over #20 (less than 50 cents), Pervert justice and sell it to the highest bidder. All these must change if the public is to trust the police and assist her in doing her work.
The recent sack of IGP Rigim and the appointment of Mohammed Abubakar; a determined crime fighter, no nonsense and uncorrupt officer as we were told who have served creditably in many Nigerian cities including Lagos, Kano is seen as good one but must be complimented with reforms/ restructuring if the change would not be a case of a new wine in an old wine pot. Hope this happens soon so that the police can contain Boko Haram, stop bounty policing, extortion, illegal road blocks/ toll points, indiscriminate arrests and live up to its mandate of protecting the lives and property of the Nigerian public.
Friend? Not in Nigeria as they are best known for arresting innocent bystanders at a crime scene to pay ‘I no follow’ bail money, mount illegal road blocks for #20 to… tolls, ‘Wetin you carry’ money, unwarranted harassments, illegal raiding of neighborhoods and the popular accidental discharge usually over #20 (less than 50 cents), Pervert justice and sell it to the highest bidder. All these must change if the public is to trust the police and assist her in doing her work.
The recent sack of IGP Rigim and the appointment of Mohammed Abubakar; a determined crime fighter, no nonsense and uncorrupt officer as we were told who have served creditably in many Nigerian cities including Lagos, Kano is seen as good one but must be complimented with reforms/ restructuring if the change would not be a case of a new wine in an old wine pot. Hope this happens soon so that the police can contain Boko Haram, stop bounty policing, extortion, illegal road blocks/ toll points, indiscriminate arrests and live up to its mandate of protecting the lives and property of the Nigerian public.
Government must also note that things will never improve if it does not implement reports and enquiries on social, ethic-religious, political disturbances, fund and equip the police adequately, provide education and gainful employment for Nigeria’s teaming youth population, and do all that is democratically expected of a democratic government for Peace, Unity and Progress to reign.
GOD BLESS NIGERIA!
GOD BLESS NIGERIA!
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