Each passing day, security is getting worse. It is either people are kidnapped or security operatives are killed. In the face of it all, the government seems handicapped. Last month, 12 policemen were killed in Bayelsa State. Nine days ago, Boko Haram killed 22 policemen in Bama, Borno State. That same day, 23 policemen and State Security Service (SSS) officers were killed in an ambush in Nasarawa State. Should things be allowed to continue like this? No, say lawyers who spoke with Adebisi Onanuga and proffered the way out.
IN the last few days, security has taken the turn for the worse. Killings and kidnappings are on the rise as hoodlums hold sway in different parts of the country. Security has virtually collapsed, as crimes seem to have become permanent fixture of daily life. The crimes are committed with impunity. If it is not robbery, which occurs daily in almost every part of the country, it is kidnapping which has spread to almost all the states, or maiming and killing of people, including security operatives by the Boko Haram in the North.
Kidnapping which began in the Niger Delta, now occurs in other parts of the country because it has become lucrative. Unlike in the past when the victims are foreigners in the oil industry kidnapped by the Niger Delta militants in the fight to stop further degradation of their land by oil firms, today many are kidnapped for ransom running into millions of naira. Almost everybody is a potential victim. The rich, their wives, parents and children. Traditional rulers are not spared.
The challenge this poses to the country is better understood considering the cases of eminent people, including traditional rulers that are being kidnapped.
Sometimes, the victims are killed when the kidnappers’demands are not met or is late in coming. Others like former Deputy Governor Chudi Nwike was killed even after his family had paid a N5million ransom.
Last Friday, Adedoyin, the wife of Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour of the Supreme Court, her daughter and driver were kidnapped on the Lagos–Benin Road.
Mrs. Rhodes-Vivour, a lawyer based in Lagos, and the others were travelling to Benin for her daughter’s marriage.
On May 3, former Petroleum Minister Alhaji Shetima Alli Monguno, 92, was abducted by gunmen after the Jumat service in his mosque in Mafoni Maiduguri, Borno State. The nonagenarian was released after 72 hours, after the family reportedly paid a N20million ransom. But Governor Kashim Shetima claimed that no ransom was paid.
In April, last year, Prof Kamene Okonjo, mother of the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was kidnapped by gunmen from the palace of her husband in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State. While she was lucky to be alive, 72-year-old Mrs. Regina Obi Dalty, a resident of Ogwashi-Uku, also allegedly kidnapped in the Delta community by the same gang, was murdered because the ransom paid on her was considered paltry. The gang was said to have demanded N10 million for her release, but got N2 million.
On the other hand, the Boko Haram insurgence, which first started in the northern part of the country like an ideological war against western behavioural pattern, and the imposition of strict Sharia Law, has taken fearful dimensions. The focus of their criminal activities is now on Christian communities and other persons who are not of northern extraction as the sect has shifted from their initial ideology.
Thousands of Nigerians have been killed, and properties worth billions of naira destroyed since the Boko Haram crisis began.
Today, Boko Haram appears to be more organised and dangerous as it is seen to be always ahead of security agencies in the execution of its war against innocent Nigerians. The group has continued with its dastardly acts, unleashing terror on Nigerians, particularly Christians, and government establishments. It was believed that their activities will decline following the decision of the government to dialogue and grant them amnesty. The reactions which their continuing insurgence on the people has however casts doubts on the effectiveness of government and security agencies in the country to curb or totally stop their activities.
What all these developments have shown is that the state governments do not have the capacity to protect their people.
To make the matter worse, the police supposed to be a mediator between individuals and groups in the society, ensure peace and security for the community in time of crisis like this, have also displayed that they lack the capacity to cope with the developments around them. Rather, the police have become the target of attacks by the sect.
Four policemen among a security team abducted eight days ago are still being held by the Ombatse militia in Nasarawa State. The police confirmed that 23 of their men and those of the State Security Service (SSS) were killed in the ambush that took place at Alakyo Village in the state. The Inspector- General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar, who visited the place, said the police would engage peaceful methods to set the hostages free. But eight days after, they are still in captivity.
On April 29, gunmen attacked Ringim Divisional Police Headquarters and the residence of the former Inspector-General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, in Jigawa State, At the end of the attack that lasted about five hours, three policemen and two guards in a bank were killed.
In January last year, 186 were killed in Kano in a coordinated attack by Boko Haram. Also in Baga, in Kukuwa Local Government area of Borno State, 185 were reported dead in a fighting between the Joint Task Force and the Boko Haram sect, most of them women and children while about 2,000 houses were burnt in the fight which occurred between Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21, 2013. The United States of America, the United Nations, the elders from the North and the National Assembly are among those who condemned the killings of innocent Nigerians while President Goodluck Jonathan ordered a probe into the blood bath.
In March 18, 2013, 25 people died while many others were injured when suicide bombers believed to be members of the Boko Haram struck and bombed a Lagos bound luxury bus at the new road motor park in Sabon Gari area of Kano predominantly occupied by non-indigenes.
For two days, gun men raided four communities in Kaura Local Government Area in Southern Kaduna and left 20 people dead and many injured. The gun men believed to be nomadic herdsmen invaded the villages on Saturday night of March 30, 2013 and continued the raid on Zilang, Taliki, Zangkan and Mafang hill top till early Sunday morning of March 31, 2013.
The failure of the security system in Nigeria to make use of its intelligence network to penetrate the network of the Boko Haram and access intelligence information from the Nigerian communities which could be used to prevent attacks, pose a lot of threat to the peace and security of the nation and is indicative of the failure of the state structure.
No doubt, the level insecurity is alarming and and in the face of all these, the government which has the constitutional responsibility and the security apparatus to protect the lives and property of the people is displaying its inadequacies in combating the various crimes and acts of terrorism ravaging the country. Terrorism seems to be gaining grounds in the country today because the government whose responsibility it is to protect the lives and properties of her citizens, appeared to have failed also in this area of its responsibility.
Does the President lack the capacity to fight insecurity? Or is it that our security apparatuses are inadequate to combat the menace? These are the questions that have been agitating the minds of many Nigerians in view of recent attacks on the police by the sect and other groups with the police suffering high casualties. Lawyers expressed their worries over the matter and proffered solutions within the confines of the laws.
To Mr Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), the primary obligation of the government under the Constitution is the guarantee of security of lives and property.
“Without a doubt some northern parts of Nigeria are under siege. It is even more worrisome that the security agencies are themselves the target of attacks! The Presidents failure to declare a state of emergency in some of these areas is in my humble an abdication of his constitutional responsibility!
“The political class including the opposition parties have not helped matters too ! Rather than present a very unified front with the ruling party in the face of this onslaught against the Nigerian state, they are playing primordial politics along party lines as if these deaths are meaningless to them ! It is very disheartening indeed!”, he said.
Prince Segun Ajibola (SAN) said he could not recall when in Nigeria, the life and well being of the citizens have been so threatened and overwhelmed by fear and insecurity. He noted that the situation has almost completely gone out of control. He said that the recent killing of a number of policemen, soldiers and other security agents is clear and additional evidence that Mayhem has now become the order of the day and that the matter has gone beyond a mere legislative approach, or local issue, the problem has a cross border flavour ,which has clearly defiled all local efforts to deal with it.
“ In my humble opinion, it calls for a security strategy of a highly technical and sophisticated form, designed by experts in this field were ever in the world they can be found. Another idea is to seriously follow up and intensify the peace efforts, in whatever name described, amnesty etc. and embark on a massive , aggressive, poverty alleviation and educational projects ,targeted at specific problem areas as a start ,and then gradually widen the scope to major parts of the country.
“The statute books are littered with all sorts of laws to discourage this kind of nefarious and heinous acts, but they are helpless in the face of a weak or ineffective machinery to enforce them. Unfortunately laws don’t have self enforcement mechanisms. This is largely the responsibility of security and law enforcement agents, whose efficiency is sadly facing monumental challenges. They more than deserve our support and prayers especially at this crucial times, if they fail, I am afraid we have all failed”, he said.
Former Publicity Secretary, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja Branch, Mr Samson Omodara, said high insecurity would end when there is equitable wealth distribution.
“The high level of insecurity all has to do with the imbalance in wealth distribution, bad governance and moral decadence. “Our leaders must wake up or be ready to be woken by revolution,” he said.
President, Coalition of Lawyers for Good Governance (CLGG), Mr Joe Nwokedi, believes improving the country’s security situation would require more patriotism and the input of all Nigerians.
He said: “The rate of insecurity going on in the country is quite alarming. The recurring phenomenon of bloodshed and wanton destruction of lives and properties has made our veins unshakable.
“The most worrisome aspect of it is that it is becoming uncontrollable and magnifying by the day.
“The solution to the problem is patriotism. We have to go back to our roots. It seems that we no longer value this entity called Nigeria.
“The values that our founding fathers pursued with vigour and strength have been eroded.
“Even our president is not patriotic enough; if not how can he pardon a man who embezzled our funds and was convicted, simply because he hail from his state?
“Our citizens are not happy with our country; our security personnel are not patriotic, neither are our fellow country men and women.
“There is anger in the land. It is time we pursued ideals that bind rather than divide us.
“Security Chiefs and Personnel should be more committed to their work. Let us see security as everybody’s duty.”
Said Ike Ofuokwu, “ If the wife and daughter of a Justice of the Supreme Court can be so easily kidnapped, then it is no longer a case of insecurity but outright anarchy.This criminality has tarried for so long that it has overwhelmed our security agencies who are now more of the victims of this impunity. Isn’t it strange that up till this day no security personnel has taken responsibility or even resigned from his or her position. Even till date none of the big wigs implicated in this shame has been tried and convicted. Instead, they are still seated in supposedly hallowed chambers making ‘laws’.
“The government has been insincere in tackling this issue just due to their selfish and personal political interest for 2015. We are equally not deceived with their talk of amnesty for Boko Haram. Amnesty with what is happening in the Niger Delta is the biggest conduit pipe for looting and siphoning public fund.
“A government that cannot tackle unemployment and is not able to create jobs for able bodied young men has automatically created insecurity and anarchy. The sophistication in which these crimes are executed is a pointer that educated and technology compliant young men are unemployed,” he said.
Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos, Mr Taiwo Taiwo, described the kidnapping of Mrs. Adedoyin Rhode-Vivour and daughter as a sad development, adding that it is another dimension to the security challenges of the country. “If the wife of the Justice of the Supreme Court could just be kidnapped like that, then it portends danger for all of us in this country.”
The National leader of the Congress for Progressive Change(CPC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday declared that the way President Goodluck Jonathan has been handling security challenges in the country has shown that his government lacks the capacity to deal with the crisis.
Buhari noted that violence is pushing the country towards anarchy hence the need for well-meaning Nigerians to step in immediately to save the country from going under.
“Anarchy is knocking on the door of many sections of this country and the Federal Government has not demonstrated that it has the good sense to understand what is going on or the competence to check it.
“The nation is hopelessly adrift. But if we are to survive, this vicious circle of violence that has engulfed this nation must be brought to an end; and we implore the national Assembly to take the lead in this quest for peace”, Gen. Buhari added.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), in a statement in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, asked President Goodluck Jonathan to shelve the plan, if he has any, to impose a state of emergency on some of the northern states worst hit by the Boko Haram crisis. The party said any such move can only be aimed at giving an undue advantage to the PDP instead of helping to end the crisis.
“Imposing a state of emergency on the states that have been mentioned, like Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states will amount to shifting responsibility and unduly victimising the governors of those states, who have done perhaps more than the President, in dealing with the crisis, even though they are not in charge of any security apparatus”, the party said.
