The Nation Newspaper

Category: Emeka Omeihe

  • Imo Police and stranger kidnappers

    Imo Police and stranger kidnappers

    That kidnap incidents hardly attract newspaper headlines any more in this country is just stating the obvious. The metastasizing nature of the malfeasance should ordinarily be a guide in this direction.

    What may attract public attention to this criminal activity is perhaps, the new dimension it assumes from time to time and its gravity. That was precisely the situation when an Abuja-Kaduna train was attacked with fatalities and scores herded inside impenetrable forests where they languished for months.  

    The same sentiments coloured the recent kidnap of 20 medical students somewhere in Benue State on their way to an event. The significance of the later incident does not lie as much in the sheer number of the abductees as in their would-be profession.

    Before this incident, many commercial transport buses had been waylaid by bands of criminals and herded into the forests where they had horrifying encounters, securing their freedom after paying huge sums of money as ransom. If such incidents were reported at all, not much attention was given to them.

    When last week, national dailies came awash with headlines on the busting and arrest of a five-man kidnap gang terrorising Obinze and Avu in the Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State, one was taken aback as to the reason for the special media attention. What is the big deal in smashing a gang of five seemingly amateur kidnappers? Is it in the sheer number of those arrested, borne out of special interest in security issues in Imo State or what?

    But a cursory reading of the story began to indicate that there was really a revealing dimension to the story that may have been responsible for the headline focus. And that has to do with the dramatis personae in the alleged criminality.

    What were the issues?  The story told by the Imo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Henry Okoye in a statement was that the police anti-kidnap squad arrested a five-man gang of kidnappers terrorising Obinze and Avu communities in the Owerri West LGA of the state after the kidnap of a 26-year old woman from her Obinze residence.  The gang which was said to be behind most of the kidnappings in that vicinity had held their victim captive in the forest for days before she was freed by the police, unharmed.

    Among the items found on gang members were one pump-action gun, five cartridges, two daggers, a cutlass and an assortment of items suspected to be charms. That was not all.

    When they were profiled by the police, their identities gave them out as, Umaru Usman, from Mauree, Sokoto State,  Tukur Yau from Dawakin Kudu in Kano State, Musbau Sabo from Warsaw LGA in Kano State, Abdul Ibrahim from Sokoto and Jubrin Idris also from Sokoto State.

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    It was only then it struck that the reason the arrest attracted generous reportage in the national media may not be unconnected with the identity of the arrested suspects. All of them are non-indigenes of the state; having come from the far northern parts of the country to hibernate in the forests at someone else’s backyard to commit crimes.

    It was therefore not for nothing that the Imo State Police Command took pains in detailing the names of the suspects and their states of origin. In matters of this nature, it is not unusual for the security agencies to withhold such details just to play down the fault-lines of our federal order.

    But that consideration was waived apparently on account of the mortal harm kidnapping and sundry criminalities have wrought on lives and properties in the state in the last couple of years. What we have seen since the festering insecurity in the state has been a tendency by security agencies to blame any and every criminality in the southeast on purported self-determinations agitators. And it has been serving their purpose even at the risk of obfuscating the complexity of the issues at play.

    This mind-set has tended to blur full comprehension of the character and dimensions of the criminalities that have left sorrow and awe on many families with socio-economic activities at their lowest ebb. So if the police busted a notorious kidnap gang terrorising some communities and it happens they are all strangers to the area, that is something worthy of note. You cannot effectively fight crime if you do not understand its character and dimensions.

    That may have been the rationale for giving out the names and states of origin of the suspects as well. We now know that some of the criminal activities in the state are solely organised and directed by bands of stranger elements taking refuge in the forests. It also gives an inkling into the mortal danger allowing people of questionable motives unhindered access to the forests and bushes at the backyards of the indigenous population portend.

    This is not the first time a band of stranger criminals terrorising the same local government will be unmasked in Imo State. In January last year, the state police command in conjunction with local vigilante similarly stormed a forest between Avu and Ihiagwa in the same local government and arrested five kidnap suspects.

    Their names given by the police in a statement then were, Muazu Awuta, Abdullahi Abubakar, Ozeru Sabo, Saddam Sulieman and Bashir Yahaya. All of them were from Jau LGA in Jigawa State.

    When the forest was combed, two decomposing bodies, telephones, shoes and wristwatches among other items, were found. Five operational motorcycles belonging to the suspects were also found within the vicinity.

    When the two incidents are paired, certain facts begin to emerge. The first is that the kidnap rings are non-indigenous to the state as they are composed exclusively by stranger elements. The other which is a corollary of the first, is that the forests provided them the cover for their illegal enterprise. The discovery of motorcycles also suggests they may have hidden under the cover of commercial bike riders to perpetrate their heinous crimes in the state.

    These are the clues the law enforcement agencies are expected to work on to diminish crimes and render its manifestations a dangerous enterprise. But the revelations by the two incidents are not entirely new. They are encapsulated in the age-long agitations against open grazing of cattle.

    The main grouse against open cattle grazing in recent years has been on account of the cover it gives sundry criminals to hide in the forests to levy war on the rest of the society. Ungoverned forests and bushes have been the greatest impediment to the war against kidnapping and ancillary criminalities.

    Incidentally, the complex politics of open cattle grazing as opposed to modern forms of animal husbandry has not helped matters. And with the presence of herdsmen in the forests, it has been a daunting task drawing a line between the genuine herders and the criminal bands taking advantage of the situation to commit sundry crimes.

    Had the ban on open cattle grazing in parts of the southern states been effective, it would have been pretty difficult for the criminal ring of stranger elements to find abode in the forests at the backyards of the indigenous people.  Then, no stranger element would have had any excuse to lurk around the forests at other peoples’ backyard. 

    So the issues are clear. The reason somebody will come from Sokoto, hide in the forest at my backyard and attack me at will, is because of the presence of herdsmen which blurs differentiation between the genuine ones and the criminals.  The solution is simple. Whether our leaders find the political will to address this time bomb, will be a measure of their seriousness in finding lasting solutions to festering insecurity fast drifting the country to the precipice.

    But there is another activity in the forests that injects complications to the security of host communities – the activities of another band of stranger elements purporting to be hunters. Writing under the title, ‘Hunters or criminals in disguise’, this writer had in this column drawn attention to complications this activity injects into the festering insecurity.

    The article followed reports from Imo, Ondo and Delta states of the presence of stranger elements dropped off in various locations with dogs and some ammunitions purporting as hunters. A social crusader in Imo State, Chinonso Uba had in a widely circulated video, queried their motive and called for regular combing of the forests.

    Ondo State security outfit, Amotekun had arrested 149 of such people in black spots notorious for kidnapping and sundry criminalities. But the Delta State police command which arrested and profiled some others curiously certified them as genuine hunters even when guns were found on them. Despite the curious verdict by the Delta police, the puzzle remained what business stranger elements with zero knowledge of the forests had invading those areas in such numbers. What kind of gaming will take them from the far north with their dogs and arms to the forests of the local people without authorisation from the local community? The answer can be located in the busting of the two criminal gang of stranger elements hiding under the cover of the forests to terrorise Imo communities.

  • Fake certificates’ scourge

    Fake certificates’ scourge

    What could be the justification for the piecemeal implementation of the recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee on degree certificate racketeering recently set up by the federal government?

    That is the question elevated to the fore by a recent directive from the Federal Ministry of Education requiring all higher institutions to regularly submit their matriculation lists not later than three months after matriculation ceremonies. The list, the government further said, must be submitted through the “dedicated channel of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board JAMB”.

    The directive is said to be one of the recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee set up by the federal government following revelations on fake degree milling in the Republic of Benin. A national daily had unveiled how a Nigerian reporter, Umar Audu obtained a degree certificate in the Republic of Benin within six weeks and even got enrolled for the mandatory National Youth Service Corps programme, NYSC.

    Sequel to that embarrassing exposure, the federal government suspended the accreditation and evaluation of degree certificates from universities in the Republic of Benin and Togo. It went further to empanel an inter-ministerial committee to investigate the allegations and find lasting solutions to the scourge.

    But in what appeared a haphazard implementation of the committee report, the federal ministry of education just announced that the committee has submitted its report and the minister approved the above measure for implementation. Curiously, nothing was said of other recommendations of the committee or the government’s position on them.

    This has raised questions regarding the propriety of piecemeal implementation of the recommendations of the committee. The committee’s major and urgent task was to investigate allegations of degree milling in universities in neighbouring countries and at home and find lasting solutions to them. The case of foreign universities is even more urgent in view of the suspension of evaluation and accreditation of degrees from Benin and Togo.

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    Given this, the expectation is that in rolling out measures to ensure the integrity of certificates awarded by Nigerian universities, prime attention ought to be given to allegations of fake degree racketeering from Benin and Togo. Nothing of such was heard. Instead, the focus of the directive is on Nigerian universities. How that addresses the case of universities in neighbouring countries is left to be seen.

    The case of these foreign universities demand utmost resolution given the suspension placed on their degree certificates. Following that blanket ban by the Nigeria authorities, foreign universities which hitherto accepted categories of degrees from Benin and Togo for postgraduate studies have turned their backs against them.

    There have also been reports of discrimination and rejection of degrees from the two countries within the Nigerian labour market. But, not all the degree certificates from those countries are fake just as is the case with our local universities. There are accredited and recognised universities in both countries awarding internationally recognised degree certificates.

    But the suspension order has led to their rejection, albeit temporarily. Many of our sons and daughters schooled in those countries and graduated through the normal channel. As the suspension lasts, they can neither be mobilised for the mandatory NYSC programme nor get employed. That underscores the urgency for the release of government’s position on recommendations of the committee as they relate to those countries.

    Part of the measures would be the release of a list of accredited and recognised universities in those two countries. Whereas this will at once resolve the issue of fake and phony institutions, it is largely circumscribed in addressing the kind malfeasance that aided Audu to obtain a degree from a university in Benin Republic within six weeks. The latter can be taken up with the governments of those countries. But the university involved in the Audu case must be blacklisted.

    There are other measures the government can take to ensure the credibility and authenticity of degrees awarded by foreign countries just as the one it has directed the universities in the country to do. It is vital therefore that the government moves fast to unveil its position on the recommendations of the committee as they relate to the universities in Benin and Togo.

    Benin and Togo may not be alone in this scandal, just as Nigeria is not free from it. But the bug infesting the universities in those two countries may have crept in through our borders on account of proximity and geographical contiguity. This may sound uncharitable but it has sound basis on account of the high number of our citizens seeking educational opportunities in those countries.

    Universities in those countries especially the private ones, are sustained largely by the Nigerian students’ population. Since the suspension of accreditation and evaluation of degrees from Benin universities, their students’ population has pummelled. So the domino effect of the so-called Nigerian factor may have activated the scourge of fake degree mills in those countries.

    This should not be surprising to anyone. Ours is a country of illegalities, fakery and quackery. It has not always been so. How that bug came to permeate the fabric of our society remains troubling. But at the centre of its all, is bad leadership. The high level of corruption in public places and the reluctance of those in positions of authority and responsibility to play by the rules have let the society loose.

    Nobody seems to believe in standards, ennobling principles. It starts from and nurtured by some of the policies of various state governments at the secondary school levels. What do you expect when school principals are demoted and punished for the inability of their Junior Secondary School students to post excellent performances at the Junior WAEC?

    It is no longer hidden that teachers dictate answers to students at that examination level just to make sure the school is seen in the eyes of the authorities to be doing well. Doing well? With this mind-set, many of the students no longer care to pay attention during lessons, knowing they will eventually scale through even when they know practically nothing.

    It is at that level the nurturing for faking and all manner of forgeries are incubated. It should therefore not come as a surprise if a preponderance of beneficiaries of this flawed educational system take this malfeasance further by forging degree certificates and deploying same to be mobilised for the NYSC.

    That was the scenario that played out at the University of Calabar where the NYSC recently demobilised 54 fake corps members fraudulently mobilised for the programme by a syndicate. The discovery followed the observation of the vice chancellor of the institution that the list of those mobilised for the programme contained names outside those sent by the university.

    A closer scrutiny of the list exposed the 54 fraudulent names including a bread seller around the university vicinity. What a shame! The NYSC has promised to prosecute the culprits including the syndicate in the university that generated the fictitious list and assigned matriculation numbers to them. That is how bad the situation has become.

    Who knows how long this fraud has been going on before the discovery? Had this particular one gone undetected, the culprits would have had no problem printing fake degree certificates and securing jobs with them backed with the NYSC certificates.

    The University of Calabar is not alone in this as reports of certificate racketeering permeate all strata of the nation’s educational system and all arms of the government. Not long ago, Lagos State University, LASU was embroiled in embarrassing certificate selling scandal when sting operations conducted by security agencies in conjunction with its former vice chancellor resulted in startling revelations.

    That investigation exposed how certificates of the university had been sold to willing buyers for between N2million and N3million depending on the course. A syndicate of academic and non-academic staff was the brain behind the generation of matriculation numbers, award of marks and degree certificates to people who never saw the four walls of that ordinarily, highly rated institution. That is the rot in our education system.

    How to stamp out this rot both in our local universities and their foreign counterparts was the major plank of the terms of reference of the inter-ministerial committee. Curiously and despite their copious terms of reference, all we have seen is just a directive from the federal ministry of education to all higher institutions to submit their matriculation lists to the ministry not later than three months after matriculation ceremonies. Is that all there is to the recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee?

  • Imo’s ‘That witch must die’ event

    Imo’s ‘That witch must die’ event

    If an advocacy group has its way, a church programme against witchcraft scheduled for Mbeiri in the Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State, must not be allowed to see the light of the day.

    The group known as, Advocacy  for Alleged Witches, is piqued that a church pastor, Angel Uzoma has scheduled a crusade for August 30, at his church premises during which he intends to mount an anti-witch campaign in the state.

    The group’s director, Leo Igwe has therefore asked the state police command and the Department of State Services, to halt the plan by the pastor to mount the anti-witch programme because its outcome will result to the murder of alleged witches. Igwe displayed a photograph of the billboard for the event already mounted in different parts of the state with the theme, ‘That Witch Must Die’ to drive home his case.

    For him, the event should not be allowed because its outcome will instigate and provoke witch-hunt in the state. “This event instigates and sanctifies accusation, persecution and murder of alleged witches” even as suspected witches are often attacked and killed during and after such programmes, he further warned.

    The opposition raised by the advocacy group against the publicly advertised anti-witch religious programme has serious merit. Both the theme of the programme and our experience in allegations of witchcraft make it mandatory that our law enforcement agencies cannot afford to turn a blind eye to that potentially offensive and lawless church activity.

    ‘That witch must die’ conveys the unmistakable impression that there exists a witch. And when found, death penalty albeit, through jungle justice must be the punishment for it. But that goes against the laws of the country which criminalises suspicions for witchcraft or any illegal action taken to avenge the suspicion.

    So the advocacy group was well on point when it contended that the programme will instigate, sanctify accusation of witchcraft and possibly lead to the murder of suspected witches. That is the reading of the message contained in the billboards mounted in different parts of the state. Or, how else will the alleged witches die during the church event if not through jungle justice?

     Even if the pastor could also procure the death of suspected witches through some supernatural means or touted power of miracles, that also cannot be justified on any ground. There is everything wrong with the theme of the church crusade and the activities to actualise it to be allowed to proceed as advertised.

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    Curiously, it has taken the protestations of the Advocacy for Alleged Witches to draw the attention of the law enforcement agencies to this potent danger. That is the case which people have against the security agencies when they accuse them of not being proactive enough or intelligence driven in the performance of their duties. It is a huge disappointment that billboards advertising death sentence for witch suspects could find their way in and around Imo State with the security agencies looking the other way.

    Not with our experience in issues concerning alleged witchcraft. The reported jungle justice which has come to denote the fate of witch suspects across the country does not leave anybody in the comfort of mind that witch suspects during the event will fare any better. There must be suspected witches during the event (either within the congregation or outside of it) else its purpose will be defeated.

     Witches will not die if there are no witches. The programme theme admits the existence of witches together with all the devilish powers allegedly attributed to them. Its objective is therefore to instigate, provoke, find and kill a witch or witches. It must achieve this objective for the campaign to garner popular appeal and succeed.

    There is the temptation to rationalise the church programme as part of the Pastor’s right to freedom of worship as effectively guaranteed by the country’s constitution. The instant case is a warped conception of religious freedom because the programme seeks to criminalise and levy death sentence on witch suspects. The laws of this country do not allow a church such powers. That is the dividing line between freedom of worship and the kind of activity the religious group is about to embark upon.

    This is not the first time programmes that deal with witchcraft will generate heated controversy. If a  purely academic seminar organised by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN could generate demonstrations with calls for its outright cancelation, it is inconceivable how one in which alleged witches are to face jungle justice can be allowed to hold.

    An international conference on witchcraft slated for UNN in 2019 with the theme, “Witchcraft, meanings, factors and practices” had led to serious protests from various religious organisations. The demonstrating church groups had alleged that the event was all about the gathering of witches and called for its outright put off.

    The pressure was so much so that the UNN authorities had to prevail on the organisers of the conference the, Prof. B.I.C. Ijomah of the Centre for Policy Studies and Research to change the theme to, “Dimensions of Human Behaviour” before it was allowed to proceed. But that controversy forced the keynote speaker, Prof. David Ker to withdraw.

    The Director of the centre Prof. Egodi Uchendu, regretted how ordinary academic conference was twisted out of context to create confusion even as she expressed happiness that the controversy did not significantly affect the participation level. Nonetheless, the conference gave a good account of itself.

    In his paper titled, “The wealthy are no witches: Towards an Epistemology and Ideology  of Witchcraft among the Igbo of Nigeria”, Prof Damian Opata said the way witchcraft is propagated and believed by some Nigerians has continued to kill development of knowledge on the issue.

    He may have had the likes of the emerging church event in Imo State in mind when he said, “Pastors, seers in the foreign religions and charismatic priests in variegated persuasions very frequently use perceived attacks by witches and wizards to put fear in the minds and hearts of their various congregations”. The truth he said, is that witches and wizards exist for those who believe they exist and do not have existence for those who do not believe in them.

    It may be added that these pastors, seers in foreign religions take to this course of action in order to hold their adherents hostage, manipulate and exploit them. And they largely succeed because of fear, poverty, illiteracy and fickleness of the human mind.

    Professor of Sociology and Anthropology UNN, Peter Jazzy Eze toed similar lines when he argued that witchcraft did not exist but existed in the minds of people who believe in it. He contended that science and technology have overtaken superstitious beliefs in witchcraft which have no empirical validity.

    The contributions of these scholars are no doubt, of great value in advancing knowledge on the subject matter. Ironically, the heuristic value of the contributions would have been lost, had the UNN seminar been cancelled outright as canvassed by those who saw it as nothing but a gathering of witches and wizards.

    Ironically, it is intolerance of such robust discussions that has overtime, sustained weird beliefs in witches and witchcraft on these shores. Had sufficient awareness been created on the subject matter, it would have been a herculean task selling the idea of witchcraft to the citizenry such that is about to be exploited through the controversial church programme.

    Then, we would not have got to the point one pastor or magician touting to be a seer could hoodwink and draw large audience on the guise that witches must die during or after his crusade. Ignorance, poverty and disease provide the oxygen these pastors require to sustain their trade.

    It is no coincidence that climes where people take easy resort to superstition fall within the underdeveloped or developing nations of the world characterised by abject poverty. So, the causative factors for such beliefs are known. They can be realistically addressed by tackling ignorance, poverty and disease through meaningful development such that addresses the material conditions of our people consigned into hewers of wood and fetchers of water. 

    As long as these huge disparities in human capital development index persist in this country, so long will all manner of people exploit the citizenry through weird beliefs and ideologies. The crusade billed for Imo State is one of such; its offensive theme and direction must change if the event must proceed.

  • Interrogating Nigeria’s UK travel advisory

    Interrogating Nigeria’s UK travel advisory

    It does appear we are in a season of travel warning alerts. This time, it is not just the usual case of one advanced country or the other warning their citizens of the danger travelling or visiting certain areas of interest in developing countries. Neither is the heightened frequency propelled by the developmental disparities that regulate relations between the advanced and developing nations. But one thing central to all these, has been the metastasising insecurity across the world in recent times.

    Events seem to be turning the table in seemingly unexpected directions. Countries hitherto considered largely immune to the social and political upheavals that compel these alerts are suddenly and ironically, finding themselves at the receiving end.

    Nothing bears this out most poignantly than the violent anti-immigration unrest in the United Kingdom, UK. Violent riots and unrest broke out in Southport, northwest England following a knife attack at a children’s dance class resulting to the death of three girls and injuring of 10 others. The incident sparked off wide protests arising in the main, from misinformation that the attacker was an immigrant and radical Muslim.

    These sentiments spurred anti-immigration violent attacks on at least, two hotels housing asylum seekers. But, the violence quickly spread to more than 10 cities leading to looting and confrontation with security agencies.

    The police was later to confirm that the suspect was born in Britain and his case is not being profiled as that of a terrorist.

    That was after the harm had been done. The UK security agencies had a daunting challenge containing the orgy of lawlessness from the violent unrest.

    In the wake of the violence, Nigeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and India issued travel warnings to their citizens living in or intending to travel to the UK. That may be the first time in recent times that these countries issued such advisories warning their citizens of danger in the UK. Of particular interest was the travel alert by the Nigerian government to its citizens residing in the UK.

    The statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs read: “there is an increased risk of violence and disorder occasioned by recent riots in the UK, stemming from the killing of three young girls at a concert. The violence has assumed dangerous proportions as evidenced by reported attacks on law enforcement agents and damage to infrastructure”.

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    Nigerians living or intending to travel to that country were advised to be extra vigilant, avoid political processions and rallies, crowded areas and gatherings. Generally, travel advisories are official warning statements by government agencies providing information on the relative safety of travelling to or visiting one or more specific countries or destinations.

    The objective is to aid travellers make informed decisions on their proposed travel plans so as to prepare adequately for any eventualities. These may relate to potential threats as inclement weather, security, civil/political unrest or epidemic.

    Apparently, because of the wide disparities in developmental levels among nations, our experience here has been in the form of such advisories regularly and disproportionately coming from the advanced nations forewarning their citizens on what awaits them in the more volatile and insecure developing countries.

     Not unexpectedly, the frequency of the warning alerts and their tone has often led to official rebuttal from some of the developing countries. Nigeria has featured prominently in this regard. 

    In the last few years of multi-dimensional insecurity, Nigeria has been at the receiving end of all manner of travel advisories forewarning foreigners on the dangers they face living or visiting the country. During the last administration, the alerts came too often, sometimes with questionable evidence prompting the government to raise eyebrows.

    One of such was the updated advisory by the US government in 2022 authorising the evacuation of its “non-emergency’ employees from Abuja “due to heightened risk of terrorist attacks”. This did not go down well with the Nigerian authorities.

    The then Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed had faulted the advisory arguing on the contrary that the country was safe. He contended that every country has its own security challenge.

    “Look how many school shootings happen in the US? How many senseless killings happen in the US? So have they been able to predict what’s going to happen next”, the former minister slammed back at the US authorities. That was not the only instance the former regime picked holes with travel alerts from the US and UK.

    And just in November last year, the current regime had cause to take serious exceptions to a security advisory by the US warning its citizens of serious threats to major hotels in Nigeria. “The US government is aware of credible information that there is an elevated threat to major hotels in Nigeria’s major cities”, the statement read.

    Though the US noted that security agencies were working diligently to counter the threats, they proceeded to warn their citizens to be vigilant at major hotels, be alert to their surroundings and review travel plans to Nigeria before checking into any hotel.  

    Again, the Nigerian authorities did not take kindly to this advisory faulting it for hasty generalisation. “What we have seen is that such advisories do not achieve anything other than needless panic and they can have severe adverse economic impact, not to talk of what they do to undermine the government’s efforts to attract investments”, Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information had said.

    Given these, recent advisory by the Nigerian government warning her citizens of possible dangers visiting the UK cannot escape interrogation. For one, the warning seems to align with the arguments of Lai Mohammed that every country has her own fair share of insecurity. The violent unrest in the UK, illustrates that point clearly.  

    And for another, the alert questions the previous position of Mohammed Idris who had argued that such advisories achieve nothing rather create panic, act as disincentive to foreign investments with adverse economic consequences. How do we now situate such contention in view of the recent alert by the federal government to its citizens in the UK? Will the advisory not produce the same touted outcomes? That is the contradiction.

    Ironically, as Nigeria was issuing the advisory, it also had the hunger protests that led to loss of lives and destruction of properties to contend with.

    Or was the alert just issued to get even with our former colonial masters to drive home the point that the insecurity propelling travel warnings is neither limited by boundaries nor developmental disparities?

    The argument that travel alerts do not achieve anything except to create panic and stifle investments is largely flawed. It did not only contradict the principles behind such alerts, but makes it more difficult for Nigeria to justify its current position in respect of the violence in the UK. Nigeria is entitled to her position. But does our national environment enjoy the stability to tilt the balance of travel alerts in our favour going forward?

    There are lessons in there both for the UK and Nigeria. And the authorities in the UK have been reassuring residents of their safety irrespective of religion, ethnic or other primordial considerations.

    At issue is the mortal dangers disinformation and the fanning of sentiments of ethnic and religious hue could wrought on societal wellbeing. Such sentiments have since the last elections resonated to dimensions that threaten the corporate existence of this country. The tendency has to be watched especially given its new dimension.

    The government may have found an opportunity to pay back the UK in their own coins given the seeming indecent haste they relish in such alerts. But that is not all there is to it.

    For a country assailed by assortment of security and existential challenges driving its citizens into the desperation of seeking greener pastures in foreign lands under any guise, such alerts pale into insignificance.

     Many of our citizens residing outside our shores or seeking to do so, prefer any condition (including the violence in the UK) to the uncertainties of staying back home. That is the uncanny irony. So such alerts add up to nothing until the home front is re-engineered, secured and developed to serve the greatest good of the greatest number of our suffering people.

  • NIN for foreigners

    NIN for foreigners

    The senate recently passed for a second reading, a bill which seeks to allow all persons residing in Nigeria, the right to obtain the National Identity Number NIN. But the move failed to take into account the guiding principles for the issuance of such identity numbers across the world. 

    Titled, “National Identity Management Commission (Repeal and enactment) Bill 2024 (SB.472), the amendment seeks to “expand the scope of registrable persons by broadening the eligibility criteria for registration under the Nigerian ID system to ensure inclusivity and universal coverage”. If it scales through, the bill will allow all persons resident in Nigeria to obtain the NIN and utilise it as a recognised form of identification.

    When its sponsor, deputy senate president, Barau Jibrin tabled his lead arguments, his colleagues shared his views after which the bill was passed for a second reading. Nobody saw anything wrong with some of the clauses in the bill. Neither was any objection raised on inherent loopholes that may render the whole essence of NIN registration worthless.

    Specifically, part V1(17) of the bill provides that, “Every citizen and resident of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be entitled to obtain the National Identification Number by undergoing the process of enrolment in accordance with the Act”.

     Part V1 (18) further complicated matters when it stated that “the commission shall take special measures to enrol, and issue National Identification Numbers to such persons who do not have any permanent place of residence and such other categories of individuals as may be specified by regulations”.

    These clauses are utterly at variance with section 16 of the NIMC Act No.23 of 2007 which defined registrable persons as Nigerian citizens, permanent residents and foreigners legally resident in the country for a period of two years or more. The clash of the two clauses with the stipulations of the Act establishing the NIMC on those qualified for registration raises suspicion on the real motive the bill is meant to serve. A cloud of doubt now surrounds the real intent of that amendment bill.

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    A piece of legislation that throws open the doors of this country to all manners of residents to obtain the NIN is an open invitation to anarchy. Curiously, the senate would also want the NIN to serve as national identity. That amounts to a contradiction of sorts.

     Why issue national identity numbers to people with no legal status to stay in the country?  How national is an identity number that does not discriminate between citizens; those legally permitted to reside in the country on the one hand and illegal immigrants on the other? It would seem that piece of legislation was either put together in a hurry or meant to serve some hidden agenda.

    It will entail the issuance of the NIN to just any person who finds himself within the shores of this country. No country does that. It remains to be imagined why Jibrin thinks unrestrained access to the NIN by all manner of persons will best serve our national interest especially now.

    The absurdity of the two clauses is further illustrated by the provision requiring NIMC to issue NIN to people who do not have any permanent place of residence in the country. That would entail arming people with no fixed addresses with the NIN. Really?

     It is either such people are ghosts, live inside the forests or some other obscure criminal hideouts. Every law abiding citizen or foreigner should have a place of residence to be identified with. A country grappling with multidimensional insecurity that has stretched the energies of the security agencies to elastic limits, can only allow that at its peril.

    Within the last decade or so, Nigeria has come to confront the insurgency of the Boko Haram and ISWAP, an arm of IS. It is also at battle with the terrorism of the herdsmen, constantly placed at the doorsteps of foreign herders from the Sahel region.

    The arms and ammunitions used in these terrorists’ onslaughts are usually blamed on the influx of foreign nationals aided by the porosity of our borders. There is also the phenomenon of banditry which has become difficult to separate from the terrorism of the herdsmen or Boko Haram insurgency. These are extant debilitating challenges to national security. This reality should inform strict adherence to NIN registration ensuring that only people allowed residence by the laws establishing the NIMC get registered.

    Unfortunately, that is not the signals we get from the proposed amendment to the NIMC Act of 2007. The amendment bill in part, seeks to throw open access to NIN registration to people who have no business with that piece of document. And if one may ask, of what value is the proposal to empower all residents including the illegal ones; ones that have no identifiable places of abode with the NIN? Does such a measure not amount to a clear invitation to danger?

    These questions are raised because of the peculiar place of the country within the sub-region. Nigeria shares borders with other African countries. It does not only share cultural affinity and language with these neighbours, there are common traces of family and blood relationships across borders. There is high level of mobility and influx of people from these countries into our shores. The large size of the country and the economic advantages it offers, make it attractive to its neighbours.

    The scenario is bound to be catastrophic when every, and, anybody that finds his way into the shores of this country is easily armed with the NIN. Then also, the NIN would have become a worthless piece of document. That is the manifest danger thrown up by sections of the bill that recommend unrestrained access to NIN registration by foreigners.

    Those contentious clauses miserably mock the general rules guiding the establishment of National Identification Numbers or Social Security numbers. According to Wikipedia, a national identity number, or national insurance number is issued by the governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens, permanent residents and temporary residents for the purposes of work, taxation governments benefits etc.

    In the United States of America US, the Social Security Number (SSN) is a nine- digit number issued to its citizens, permanent residents and temporary (working) residents. It identifies individuals for the purpose of social security but it is now used to track individuals for taxation. It is also required for the opening of bank accounts and applying for drivers’ licence. The SSN has become a de facto national identification number despite the fact that it was not originally meant for that purpose.

    There is no legal requirement in the United Kingdom, UK to obtain or carry any identification document. But some form of identification is required for many things like renting an apartment. A national insurance number is used to administer state benefits.

    South African national identity card is known as a Smart ID Card. It is issued to South African citizens or permanent residence permit holders who are 16 years or older. People, including spouses and children who are working for the South African government or one of its statutory bodies outside South Africa also qualify to receive that country’s identity document.

    In effect, the general principle is for national identification numbers to be issued to citizens, permanent resident permit holders and others legally permitted to reside within a country. The senate will be hard put to show evidence of countries that issue national identity numbers just to any foreigner who happens to set foot within their shores.  

    Even then, what is the urgency in amending the Act setting up the NIMC especially when the proposed amendment deviates substantially from the norms guiding the issuance of national identity numbers? For a country contending with existential socio-economic and security challenges, the least expected of its lawmakers is the enactment of legislations with prospects of drifting the county further to the precipice.

    The amendment bill should not be allowed to see the light of the day. Not only does it deviate from the standard norms guiding the issuance of national identity numbers, it is loaded with frightening prospects of compromising the security of this country.

    It will be counterproductive to issue the NIN to the band of marauders, terrorists and faceless foreign criminals taking advantage of the forests to levy war on the rest of us. People living within our shores without traceable places of residence or addresses should be profiled for what they are-security risks.

  • E-CMR suspension, adjunct matters

    E-CMR suspension, adjunct matters

    The suspended enforcement of the electronic central motor registry registration e-CMR must have come to vehicle owners across the country as a huge relief. This should be expected given intense public outcry against the policy billed to take effect from July 29. Public grouse with the initiative hinged on its prospects of compounding the burden of vehicle owners already overstretched by a multiplicity of taxes and levies in the face of unfavourable economic environment.

    The measure was also suspected as a creation by the police to harass, inconvenience and extort vehicle owners. The seeming haste in its enforcement and lack of clarity as to the purpose it is meant to serve further fuelled public cynicism.

    But the chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law, John Aikpokpo-Martins had a different angle to these reservations. He slammed the initiative for what he called its blatant disregard for the rule of law. Aikpokpo-Martins questioned the legal basis for the police to issue CMR, arguing that no law granted them the powers to collect fees and issue such a certificate. He threatened legal action.

    The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA has since disowned his statement citing the suspension of the arm of the bar association he hitherto led. But the NBA equally picked holes with police issuance of the e-CMR with an appeal for its reconsideration.

    Apparently responding to these reservations, the Inspector General of Police IGP, Kayode Egbetokun suspended the enforcement of the e-CMR. The police said the suspension would enable them sensitise the public on the initiative. They explained the initiative is among others, designed to ensure the safety and security of all types of vehicles including motorcycles, by collating data imputed into the system by vehicle owners and acting on such to flag vehicles if reported stolen.

    “Similarly, the e-CMR will prevent multiple registration of vehicles and serve as a data base to collect biometric and other data of vehicle owners and individuals, adding value to the national database and incident report portal generated from other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) towards national security”, the IGP further explained.

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    Ostensibly, the e-CMR registration is to aid the police protect lives and property. Ordinarily, the objectives to be served by the e-CMR should have been well received by the public. Any genuine measure to enhance the protection of lives and property is expected to attract the support and endorsement of the general public. The escalating insecurity across the country is one key reason that support ought to be taken for granted.

     Unfortunately, e-CMR has not been so received. Public opposition to the new initiative is not as much with the objective it is meant to serve as with the fear that it will provide the police a new avenue to extort vehicle owners. The conduct of some police officers at checkpoints and the extortion motorists regularly face in their hands, reinforce this mistrust.

     So, the fear that the initiative stands to be exploited for the selfish gains of some unscrupulous police officers is not unfounded. Apart from having to cough out N5, 375 to obtain the certificate, e-CMR will add to the volume of documents demanded by the police at checkpoints that have been turned to toll points.

     Even now, police operatives demand for so many documents from motorists that it is difficult to say for certain, the number of vehicle documents a driver is expected to carry while on transit. You will be amazed at the number of documents you are asked to provide at checkpoints especially along the highways. E-CMR will add to this load.

    Many years back, it was difficult for motorists, especially private car owners to drive through the Lagos-Benin highway without being contravened/extorted for not having CMR. Once they check your papers and found everything correct, the next thing is to demand for your CMR.

    Then, many vehicle owners had no idea of what CMR was all about. Neither was it listed among the particulars they were required to carry while on transit. Those who found that document convenient to extort motorists knew it was not compulsory. Yet, they harassed vehicle owners to produce it. Opposition to e-CMR may have been evoked by such past encounters.

    In one of our interactive sessions while on the editorial board of a national daily, we had raised this issue with the then Lagos State Commissioner of Police. When asked the documents motorists were required to carry on them, CMR was not among the papers he listed. Yet, the police along the Lagos-Benin section of the expressway always found that document a convenient tool for extortion.

    I had personal encounters with the police along that highway for non-possession of CMR. Their conduct and the inconvenience I faced compelled me to commission a reporter to get one for me for a fee.

    The next time I plied that section of the road, I was waiting to surprise them with that document. But to my disappointment, I was not flagged down in the usual way. Neither did anybody ask me of it in many of the occasions I passed through that highway. It remains unclear to me till today why nobody harassed me again for CMR after the pains I took to secure it.

     The fact that police is about to make CMR mandatory has exposed the illegality of the actions of those who had demanded for it 20 years ago. Why it was only along that section of the highway the police found it convenient to ask for CMR remains also curious. 

    It is therefore not just enough for the Police Public Relations Officer PPRO, Olumuyiwa Adejobi to wave aside public criticism of CMR on the ground that it is not new. It is new because its possession would compel vehicle owners to part with N5,375. It is also new in the sense that it has not been part of the documents motorists were mandatorily required to carry on transit.

    The PPRO was not equally correct when he asserted with an air of finality that no agency can take on the police on the CMR. On the contrary, the initiative can be challenged in court as already threatened by Aikpokpo-Martins. I have heard lawyers say that law is silent as long as it has not been provoked. The propriety of the police collecting rates for the issuance of CMR has been called to question. It may not lie solely within the purview of that institution to resolve the challenge.

    The case of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, should serve as a veritable lesson. A couple of years back, the FRSC had the notion of unfettered powers to operate on state and local roads until it was challenged in court.

    The Court of Appeal sitting in Asaba, Delta State, had then affirmed the judgment of the Federal High Court in Warri which held that the FRSC can only operate on federal roads. The Federal High Court had on January, 25, 2019 ruled in favour of Darlington Ehikim all the reliefs he sought including a declaration that the FRSC had no right to operate or carry out any activity on state and local roads. The matter is on appeal.

    Perhaps, the case brought by Kunle Edun, a lawyer against the Delta State government, its Attorney General and the Ughelli North Local Government Area for demanding a valid Road-worthiness Certificate for his private vehicle should be instructive enough. Edun had in the suit argued there was no provision in the law of the state for such a certificate as it is only required for commercial transport and haulage vehicles.

    The high court granted the relief he sought. The Appeal Court, Asaba division upheld the ruling of the high court when it held that they are not authorised to demand fee or issue certificates of road-worthiness to private vehicles according to the road traffic law of the state. The state government appealed the ruling. 

    The right of the police to collect fees for issuance of the e-CMR can be challenged; so also the amount to be collected. It is a different ball game if the courts resolve the matter in favour of that agency.

    Must the police charge money for documentation that is billed to be done online? If yes, what amount and is the certificate renewable? Is it possible for the police to use data available in the vehicle registration offices, information in the National Identification Number portal and incident report portal from other government agencies to seamlessly achieve the same objective?

  • LGs can now breathe

    LGs can now breathe

    The judgment of the Supreme Court granting financial autonomy to the country’s 774 local governments has raised fresh hopes that the third tier of government will again rise to its statutory duties. But, that is not all there is to the matter.

     The renewed optimism is premised in part, on the sterling performances of the local government councils in the past, especially immediately after the return of civil rule in 1999 in contrast with the morbid inactivity the tier of government was thereafter embroiled in. Any alteration in the relationship between the state governments and the local councils that has the prospects of enhancing the operational efficiency of that tier of governance is bound to elicit positive feelings.

    Such was the case last week when the Supreme Court granted copious reliefs to the local governments in the suit brought by the federal government against the state governors on the autonomy of the third tier of government.

    The seven-man panel of the apex court in the judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, declared that ‘a democratically elected local government is sacrosanct and non-negotiable’ and that the use of a caretaker committee amounts to a state government taking control of the local government in violation of the 1999 constitution.

    The Supreme Court ruled that the state government has no power or control to keep the local government council money or fund and that the council is entitled to local government allocation. In arriving at the decision, the apex court recognised that local government funds could either be paid through the state governments or directly to the councils.

    But it held that since paying through the states has not worked, ‘justice in this case demands that LG allocations from the federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the LGs’.  The court then issued an order of injunction restraining the defendants or their privies from spending local government allocations.

    Other decisions of the court included a declaration that no state government should be paid any money meant for the local government and a directive for immediate compliance with the judgment.

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     By the judgement, the dispute over the financial autonomy of the local government councils has been finally laid to rest. Before the ruling, the federal government was remitting funds meant to the local councils through the joint accounts operated by the state and local governments.

    But the state governors frequently withheld funds accruing to the councils, devising sundry guises to deprive them of their share from the federation account. That unwholesome practice went on for nearly two decades despite the fact that the constitution clearly recognises the local councils as the third tier of government with clearly defined functions.

    Unable to get a fair share of the funds accruing to them, the councils became a ghost of their former selves incapable of performing even the routine functions assigned them in the fourth schedule of the constitution. Efforts by the last National Assembly to amend the constitution to grant financial autonomy to the councils met a brick wall when the bill was sent to the state assemblies for concurrent legislation. That effort was sabotaged by the state governors by mounting pressure on the state assemblies to vote against that visionary piece of legislation.

    That stalled the amendment and gave the governors unfettered access and control over local government funds. The yawning infrastructural gap, insecurity and decay in basic services provided by that level of governance, is a measure of the harm inflicted by the hijack of its funds. Not only did the governors corner and divert the funds, there was no conscious effort to address the array of debilitating challenges assailing the people at the grassroots.

    Ironically, the boundaries of the 774 local governments coincide with the boundaries of the country. By extrapolation, when you develop all these local governments, development would be evenly spread across the country. But the state governors, buoyed by the high level of corruption in public offices would rather hold on to LG funds.

    It was against this background the federal government approached the Supreme Court for its position on the vexed issues which have now been resolved in the favour of the local councils. It is a landmark judgment with a lot of promises for the tier of governance closest to the people.

    By the ruling, funds accruing to the LGs from the federation account will now be directly sent only to democratically elected councils. Caretaker committees appointed by the governors are now illegal and will be denied allocations from the federation account.

    The implication is that a local government council is deemed to exist only when it is manned by democratically elected officials. If the governors want the funds accruing to their LGs to be released, they must conduct election into those offices or have such funds withheld. This has put effective check to all the subterfuge designed by the governors in conjunction with their state assemblies to corner the funds of the LGs.

    There will neither be room for the frequent dissolution of the local government councils when no state of emergency is in place, nor further delays in conducting elections at that level of governance. The ruling will put a check to the alteration of the tenure of the councils by the states working in concert with their assemblies.

    The fate of Local Council Development Authorities LCDAs and Development Centres remains uncertain with emerging developments. The governors will have to devise ways to fund or have them abrogated outright.

    The tenure of the councils varies across the states. There will be no further attraction in manipulating the tenure of the councils to achieve hidden ends. The LGs stand better for it. But that is not all.

    It is one thing for the LGs to be granted financial autonomy, effectively unchaining them from the stranglehold of the governors and another ball game for it to translate to effective and efficient delivery of public goods and services. The fight for LG autonomy was premised on the ground that being closest to the people, functionaries at that level will better understand the peculiarities of their environment and work to address them.

    They must rise to the challenge of the confidence reposed at that tier of governance as the fulcrum for accelerated development of the rural areas. In a country where corruption in public places is the rule, fears have been expressed as to whether elected officials at that level will turn out substantially different. That is left to be seen. But there are two things that will stand as a check against their excesses.

    The first is their closeness to the people. With the periodic publication of the revenues accruing to the councils, it will be possible for the people to get the councils account for the monies they received. Verifying projects at that level will be quite easy. Again, local government chairmen do not have immunity against prosecution while in office.

    So, they can be easily investigated, held accountable for their misdeeds. This is bound to serve as a deterrent against misuse of funds and abuse of office. The immunity clause is largely responsible for the financial rascality of some of the governors. In all, the financial autonomy of the LGs is envisaged to unleash a quantum leap in efficient performance of the plethora of functions assigned it in the fourth schedule of the constitution.

    In the days ahead, we expect to witness substantial progress in the construction and maintenance of roads, streets, functional and better run primary education and healthcare, markets, drains and parks among others. It should be a win-win situation if the LG officials understand the enormous responsibilities and trust placed on their shoulders by the Supreme Court ruling.

    But the dispositions and conduct of the governors could also stand as obstacles. The conduct of local government elections by the State Independent Electoral Commissions SIECs is at issue.  What we have had as elections at the LGs these years, is better described as democracy in its most aberrant form.

    Those elections have neither been free nor fair. They do not satisfy the standards of credible democratic engagement as opposition parties are virtually schemed out through diverse guises. That deprives the system the plurality of views for which democracy draws allure against other forms of governance construct.

    Something has to be done to open up the democratic space at that level of governance. The governors could still use their control of LG elections to financial advantage. SIECs in their present form are an impediment to the autonomy of the local governments.

     The continued relevance of the SIECs is one area the federal government should again call its legitimate means of redress into quick action.

  • Gwoza suicide bombs

    Gwoza suicide bombs

    It had all the trappings of the coordinated suicide bomb attacks that left heavy casualties, shock and awe across the country around 2011. Then, the Boko Haram insurgents, in apparent bid to attract maximum attention to their weird ideological persuasion, had taken resort to attacking soft targets.
    One of their immediate victims was St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, near Abuja where a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into the premises as worshippers were trooping out after morning service. That Christmas day attack left more than 35 people killed and many others with varying degrees of injuries as vehicles parked within the premises went up in flames.
    The choice of the church, its heavy toll ruffled feathers raising questions regarding its purpose. Their reign of terror later spread to other establishments and worship centres. A policeman was killed in another attack on a church in Jos, Plateau State. Damaturu in Yobe State recorded two attacks- one targeting security agencies and the other a church on the eve of Christmas.
    Apparently to internationalise their bizarre endeavour, the insurgents took their reign of terror to the United Nations, UN Headquarters at the Federal Capital Territory FCT when a car crashed through two security barriers before ramming into the building and exploded. At least, 18 people were killed with dozens of others injured, some very critically.
    That was part of the early strategy of the insurgents to spread fear and panic across the country. The situation was more pronounced in the northeast states of Borno and Yobe where the terrorists despoiled and captured many local government areas, set up their government collecting taxes and levies.
    It is to the credit of our security forces that many of the local government areas hitherto under the control of the terrorists have since been liberated and normal activities restored. Gwoza, a local government that shares borders with Cameroon, was one of the towns under the control and dominance of the Boko Haram insurgents.
    Penultimate Saturdays’ wedding ceremony in that local government, is a measure of the relative peace that had returned to residents of the area. It saw relatives returning from far and wide to witness the event.
    But their calculations were jolted when suddenly, the unexpected happened. A female suicide bomber disguised as a beggar with a baby strapped to her back, strolled into the wedding reception and suddenly detonated bombs, killing and injuring many of the guests.
    As rescue efforts were on to stabilise and convey the injured to hospital, another female, armed with Improvised Explosive Devices IEDs detonated her bomb. The second detonation happened on the same street with the first one, prompting the security agencies to impose immediate curfew in the area.
    A third female suicide bomber, in quick succession, targeted troops enforcing the curfew. The woman attacked the troops from behind killing a soldier and two members of the hybrid forces.

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    Yet, the lethality of a fourth bomb was averted when the female suspect was identified early enough and in panic, she detonated the bombs prematurely and was killed in the process.
    There was also the reported arrest of two other female suicide bombers even as speculations had it that about 30 of such females were recruited and armed to carry out the deadly activity in different parts of the local government. Perhaps, without the timely imposition of curfew in the area, the full impact of the devious onslaught would have been more badly felt.
    Official records put the number of deaths at 32 with over 100 people inflicted with various degrees of injury. The number of casualties could even be more as the fate of those taken to hospitals remain uncertain. A young man, who travelled from Maiduguri to Gwoza for the wedding, gave a chilling account of how he lost three of his brothers and two friends within a twinkle of the eye.
    So, the federal government may be right when they described the attacks as an isolated one. To the extent that the suicide bomb attacks were confined to Gwoza, it was a highly circumscribed endeavour. Its coordinated nature and sequence may prove insufficient to pin down the incident as a mark of resurging Boko Haram insurgency in the country.
    Yet, that is not to diminish the impact, peculiar character of the attacks and the wider issues they elevated to the fore. A member of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Jaha exposed some of these fears while contributing to the debate on a motion when he said the suicide bombers were imported.
    Findings he said, showed that the bombers were “recruited, brainwashed and imported from outside the state” to carry out the suicide act. What is not clear is whether the recruitment took place within the shores of the country or outside of it given that Gwoza shares border with Cameroon.
    The security agencies may find the information at the disposal of Jaha handy in investigating the Gwoza reign of terror. But Jaha’s claims bear the imprimatur of similar ones bandied at the early stages of the Book Haram insurgency by some of the northern elite.
    The attempt to politicise and assign culpability to imaginary enemies outside the northern enclave has since been proven futile by a chain of events. We now have better knowledge of the motives, the weird doctrinaire promptings that serve as the oxygen to Boko Haram insurgency. Ditto for the bandits that are increasingly getting difficult to differentiate from the Boko Haram insurgents.
    Jaha also talked about the recruitment and brainwashing of the female suicide bombers to carry out the devious acts. This should be troubling. That innocent women could be easily recruited in their numbers, brainwashed and sent to kill other innocent people and get consumed in the process should worry the leadership of this country at all levels.
    It does not only speak of the abject material circumstances of the recruits; their senses of right and wrong but the low value they place on human life. A society with a surfeit of potential women recruits for such lethal acts is in grave danger. What of those who recruited them for these senseless killings, their motives?
    Here, the perspective of the Defence Headquarters comes handy. They had in a statement claimed the terrorists embarked on the attacks to project an image of strength and cover up their weaknesses and decline.
    “The military is aware that in this phase of their ending life-cycle, the terrorists are desperate to attract attention, bolster relevancy, mobilize new recruits, reduce support for the armed forces and reduce support for the government”, the Defence Headquarters further explained.
    That may well be. Unfortunately, this has become the stereotypical reaction of the military each time sundry terrorists and bandits succeed in levying war either on our security forces or the rest of the citizenry.
    Those may well be the reasons for the coordinated suicide bomb attacks that jolted the country raising fear of possible degeneration. But the motivations adduced by the military are not substantially different from William Hutchinson’s general categorisation of suicide attacks as a psychological warfare aimed at instilling fear in the target population and undermining areas where the public feels secure.
    This perspective was reinforced by Bruce Hoffman when he said suicide bombing, “tears at the fabric of the trust that holds the society together”. Conceived this way, it is a weapon to demonstrate the lengths to which perpetrators can go to achieve their goals.
    If the attacks offer the insurgents the prospects of bolstering their relevance resulting in the mobilisation of new recruits, that leaves the country in grave danger unless the security forces rise to the challenge of diminishing such potential threats.
    But the country has been on this path before. The claims of huge progress in the war against terrorism by security agencies will be measured by the level of tact, expertise and dexterity they deploy to put the signal served by the renewed suicide bombings at check.
    President Tinubu has vowed that Nigeria under his watch will not slither into an era of blood, sorrow, fear and tears. Enough of these senseless killings!
    It is hoped there is no attempt by vested interests to promote circumstances akin to the experiences of the budding stages of the Boko Haram insurgency.

  • Of Southern Governors’ Forum

    Of Southern Governors’ Forum

    After three years of inactivity, the Southern Governors Forum, SGF met last week in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. Its highlight was the election of host governor, Dapo Abiodun as chairman of the forum with his Anambra State counterpart, Chukwuma Soludo as deputy.

    No communiqué was issued at the end. But, its new chairman was to explain that the meeting had consensus on a five-point agenda. These were in the areas of security, infrastructure, food security and agriculture, transportation and devolution of powers.

    Critical details of the agenda will entail socio-economic development of the southern zone under the aegis of the ‘Southern States Development Agenda’. Abiodun said the governors are in full support of state policing and that the zone is resolute in establishing a regional security outfit. They also want more powers for the exploitation and exploration of resources within their domain including Value Added Tax, VAT.

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    The governors are also keen in regional integration through infrastructure-a multi-modal transport infrastructure to connect the region by road, air, rail and water to ease movement. Some of these goals align substantially with the objectives of the first meeting of the Southern Governors’ Summit in 2000.

    Then, the forum had emerged to coordinate the fight for resource control especially, the fight against the onshore/offshore dichotomy. The frontiers of their initial campaign equally extended to devolution of powers, fiscal federalism and state police. But opposition from northern governors seemed to have put a wedge on the activities of the forum as the governors could not meet between 2005-2017.

    What appeared a renewed and more serious engagement of southern governors thereafter was the meeting in Asaba, Delta State in May 2021 during which far-reaching decisions were taken. Dubbed the Asaba Accord, the meeting which held in the wake of heightened insecurity across the country, came up with a 12-point agenda.

     These included, a resolution banning open grazing by cattle and movement of cattle by foot in southern Nigeria while urging the federal government to support willing states to develop alternative and modern livestock management systems.

    They also agreed that the progress of the nation required bold steps to restructure the Nigerian federation; devolution of powers leading to the evolution of state police. Review of revenue allocation formula in favour of the sub-national units and deepening of federalism were equally part of the agenda.

    The then president was urged to convoke a national conference as a matter of urgency, address the nation on the challenges of insecurity and restore the confidence of the people in government. The desideratum of fostering cooperation among southern states, commitment to the unity of Nigeria on the basis of justice, fairness, equity and peaceful co-existence were also prominently highlighted.

    Given the allure of the Asaba Accord, the governors had a follow-up meeting in Lagos in July, 2021, reaffirming their Asaba decisions with a timeline of September 1, 2021 for the promulgation of anti-open grazing law in all member states.

    The forum unanimously agreed that the presidency of Nigeria should be rotated between Southern and Northern Nigeria and that the next president of Nigeria should emerge from the southern region. They were apparently responding to the dynamics of the politics of the time given altercations over the region to produce the next president of the country.

    Perhaps, the resolution on power rotation to southern Nigeria in the last general elections was one crucial issue that exposed lack of unanimity of purpose and cooperation among forum members. Though the forum had fought for power shift to the south in line with the rotation principle, some of the governors openly worked against that principle when the chips were down.

    While former Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa settled for the vice presidential slot in the Peoples Democratic Party that flouted the zoning principle, Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State bought presidential nomination forms for a northern candidate of his choice. This did not speak well of the forum. It led to suspicion and mistrust that nearly incapacitated the forum thereafter.

    The Abeokuta meeting is symbolic for retrieving the forum from the abyss into which it was headed on account of political differences and sabotage from forum members. It strikes as admission of the critical roles members can play polling ideas and resources together for the common good of their peoples. 

    But even with the sentiments expressed by Abiodun, extreme caution must be exercised to avoid the mistakes of the past. It is good a thing the governors have again raised hopes on southern cooperation and the economy of scale it entails.

    Their resolution to collectively get some of the contentious issues of our federal order addressed so that even development and the progress of the country can progress unhindered is in order. The road to achieving all this is not going to be smooth but the task is not entirely insurmountable.

    It requires immense sacrifice, trust, cooperation, honesty and hard work from southern governors to eliminate all obstacles that stultify efforts to give this country a pride of place within the comity of nations.

    But it is not just enough to come up with copious resolutions that are not worth more than the paper in which they were written. Much of the previous resolutions especially on southern cooperation and development have remained within the realm of resolutions as no practical measures appear to have been taken to bring them to fruition.

    The ban on open grazing and movement of cattle by foot in the southern region, though popular with the people in view of the insecurity that is associated with that endeavour, has not progressed in the required direction.

    Though governors of such states as Edo, Delta, Abia and Cross River among others have signed the anti-open grazing law, its enforcement has left much to be desired. Not only have some states shown curious reluctance to promulgate that law, open grazing including the movement of cattle by foot have been going on unhindered.

    It is not surprising that kidnapping for ransom and associated criminalities have festered even as the current food shortages resulting in high prices are in part, outcomes of the inability of farmers to cultivate due to insecure farm lands. 

    Perhaps, the inability of members of the forum to enforce the ban on open grazing and movement of cattle by foot is due to lack of capacity to police the zone. Though the Southwest and Southeast governors floated the Amotekun and Ebubeagu security outfits respectively, nothing is known of the response of the South-south to that challenge.

    Even then, whereas Amotekun has been operating credibly and accountable for their actions; Ebubeagu has remained largely amorphous, plagued by accusations of being behind some of the killings in the Southeast. Nobody seems to know how their members were recruited and trained.

     These are issues to contend with as the forum considers the establishment of a regional security outfit. The road to it is not going to be that smooth. It is also good a thing the forum seeks regional integration through transport infrastructure to connect the region by road, air rail and waterways. The economy of scale these will engender will boost development in the region.

    All these lofty ideas may come to naught in the face of the gravely lopsided federal structure and schedule of functions. Without devolution with greater powers assigned to the sub-national units, regional integration through infrastructure such that the forum envisages will be hard to achieve.

    But as the governors seek cooperation for the benefit of their constituents, those for whom these benefits are meant, must be made to key into the process. There is so much mistrust and ill-feelings among the peoples of southern Nigeria accentuated by the rhetoric of the last elections that the governors must work hard to diffuse.

    It will serve no useful purpose living in denial of it because the cooperation and bonding together of potential beneficiaries is a sine qua non for reasonable success. One key issue that will continue to divide the south which has to be decisively and realistically addressed is the rotation of the presidency of the country among the three zones of the south.

    Just as there is agreement for rotation between the north and the south, southern governors must work out the modality for effectuating this among the three zones of the south. With orderly rotation, the acrimony, ill-feelings and sabotage fuelled by domination and inequity will be obviated. The forum stands better for it.

  • IGP’s grouse about constables’ recruitment

    IGP’s grouse about constables’ recruitment

    Despite last years’ ruling by the Supreme Court affirming the powers of the Police Service Commission, PSC, over the recruitment of police constables for the Nigerian Police Force, NPF, the acrimony between the two institutions is not about to peter out soon.

    Nothing bears this out more eloquently than the reaction of the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Olukayode Egbetokun to the list of successful 10,000 police constables just made public by the PSC.  The PSC had in a statement on July 4 said it received the report of the Police Recruitment Board in which 9,000 candidates were approved for recruitment for general duty with 1,000 candidates recruited for the specialist cadre.

     The PSC also clarified that it ensured justice and fairness in the recruitment exercise by working with guidance from relevant stakeholders, including the NPF, the National Assembly and the Federal Character Commission. This it said, “ensured equity in the spread of successful candidates across the 774 local government areas of the country”.

    It also went at length to show all the processes leading to the conduct of the Computer Based Test by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board JAMB, interviews, medical screening and conclusion of the exercise, apparently to underscore the integrity and credibility of the exercise.

    But all these did not seem to impress the NPF. The IGP in a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi was quick to launch a damning attack on the recruitment process. He bandied several damaging allegations against the processes leading to the recruitment of successful police constables in the 2022/23 exercise.

    Specifically, the NPF alleged that several names of persons purported to be names of successful candidates are those who did not even apply and therefore did not take part in the recruitment exercise. The list is also said to contain names of candidates who failed either the Computer Based Test or the physical screening and worse still, those disqualified after being found medically unfit.

    Read Also: NANS declares support for police, hails IGP’s efforts in securing campuses

    That is not all. “Most worrisome is the allegation of financial dealings and corrupt practices leading to the outcome where unqualified and untrainable individuals have been shortlisted”, the IGP further alleged. The IGP clarified that he wrote to the chairman of the PSC citing these irregularities not because he is not aware of the powers of the PSC on such matters, but because he takes the final blame for the performance of these recruits.

    These are very serious and weighty allegations that impugn the credibility and integrity of the recruitment exercise if proven to be true. The PSC was not quick in responding to the grave allegations by the IGP. Its response came days after the Joint Union Congress of the PSC entered the fray calling on President Tinubu to relieve the IGP of his job for allegedly giving out misleading information capable of causing chaos.

    The union described the allegations of fraud and other unwholesome practices against the PSC and the staff as unfounded, spurious and most irresponsible especially given the very way they were thrown into the public space. They claimed that contrary to the allegations, some elements within the police force attempted to smuggle in over 1,000 names into the recruitment list but failed.

    They shared the same positions with the PSC which in its reaction to the allegations by the IGP, reaffirmed the integrity of the recruitment exercise with a call for President Tinubu’s intervention and resolution of the matter. The IGP was challenged to prove his allegations.

    The starting point for this proof is for the list of successful candidates and that of the police to be subjected to forensic audit using the Computer Based Test results conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board JAMB, the PSC demanded.

    So, we are left with allegations qua allegations which seemingly render the matter complex. But we are not entirely helpless.

    The CBT result is supposed to come before physical examination and medical test. If that is the case, while the CBT result will be handy is authenticating all those that duly passed the exams, it is of little value in providing reliable information on the physical and medical eligibility of the candidates.

    There is the third dimension which deals with the broader issues of corruption and financial dealings leading to outcomes where unqualified and untrainable individuals were shortlisted. The latter may be hard to prove but cannot be ruled out given the pervasiveness of the malfeasance in public offices.

    Allegations that individuals who neither applied nor took part in the recruitment exercise made the list of successful candidates are provable and the IGP has to show evidence of them. The same applies to those who failed the CBT, physical screening and medical tests but got appointed. The issue has gotten to the public domain. No attempt should be made to sweep them under the carpet.

    One is not inclined to believe that the NPF could bandy these claims if they do not have the facts correct. That would amount to a serious indictment on that key institution. The credibility of the IGP is at stake. And the only way out is for President Tinubu to order serious investigations into the issues in contention.

    It is important to get at the root of the embarrassing allegations bandied by both agencies of the government because of their larger repercussions on the image of the police force. Ours is a police force that is embroiled in serious credibility and image deficits.

    A few years ago, public mistrust against the police had snowballed into riots of serious magnitude leading to destruction of lives and property. At the end of the riots tagged #EndSARS, the police authorities went back to the drawing board.

    They set out to address the plethora of challenges that plagued that institution, improve its overall image and align its men and officers to the demands of the contemporary environment. The altercation between the IGP and the PSC are sad reminders to that image of the police Nigerians abhor.

    There is the temptation to blame the IGP for not coming to terms with the reality of the Supreme Court ruling and the constitutional provision on recruitment into the police force. That may not be completely ruled out. But that should neither whittle down nor blur the larger issues in respect of unwholesome practices in the recent recruitment of police constables.

    Yes, such recruitments are within the purview of the PSC. But those recruited will work with and be supervised by the IGP. That should presuppose that he should have a role to play in the process irrespective of what the laws say.

    It is possible for the PSC to counter this on the ground that the police institution was fully represented in the recruitment board. That could pass on face value. But it is not all there is to it. There is the need for confidence-building and synergy between the office of the IGP and the PSC. Rigidity to rules or lack of consultation with the IGP directly will prove unhelpful in the circumstance.

    There is insinuation in the reaction of the PSC that the IGP is dragging feet on the commencement of the training of the constables. This could be dangerous. But it is the type of relationship you get in situations where agencies whose jobs are coordinate find themselves embroiled in power play supremacy. The police institution is worse for such stained relationships.

    Perhaps, we may need to go beyond the offices of the IGP and the PSC to locate possible sources of the alleged discrepancies in the list released by the commission. The PSC claimed it worked with the guidelines from stakeholders including the National Assembly and the Federal Character commission.

    One can understand the role of the Federal Character Commission in this assignment but not that of the National Assembly. There is need for clarification on the specific roles played by our lawmakers in this recruitment process. Or was the process politicised as members strove to ensure their constituencies are fully represented?

    Only a high powered investigation can unveil the real source of the allegations by the IGP. But we must save the police institution from undue influences capable of impairing its efficiency.