NIGERIA POLICE: UNITARISM AS TERRORISM

NIGERIA POLICE: UNITARISM AS TERRORISM
By Onesimus Enesi
One of the vestiges of English domination of Great Britain was ended by Northern Ireland Assembly on Tuesday, 9th March 2010. In a vote for the devolution of policing and justice 105 voted for and 17 voted against, thus ensuring that Northern Ireland will now be self-policed without the over-bearing English sentries blowing hot air over them.
In a country of several ethnic nationalities such as the Welsh, the Scots, the Irish and the English, it was an insult that any of them could not control its own physical security as it was with Northern Ireland. Although the effective date of devolution April 12, 2010, the thought of liberty or liberation from being a colonial or vassalage of the English has already injected an elixir of hope and self-fulfillment on Northern Irelanders. As it is, the 38 years old imposition of centrally controlled policing and justice on that region of Great Britain has ended. While it lasted, it generated hate, violence and injustice. Which is why Prime Minister Gordon Brown described the vote as a “powerful message to those who would return to violence that democracy and tolerance will prevail.” Brown did not stop there. He praised the courage of the parties and their leaders who so voted. “The courage and leadership of the parties who voted to complete devolution at Stormont will be noted around the world”. Well said, Mr. Prime Minister! Just as the wind of freedom blew against imperial Great Britain at the end of the second world war, I hope that the vote at Stormont will reverberate throughout Britain’s former colonies where unitarism still holds sway.
My own country Nigeria remains a neo-colonial vassalage of the United Kingdom in all its ramification. Nigeria operates a centrally-controlled and unitary police force at the instance and advice of Great Britain, who is currently engaged in a so-called ‘community police’ consultancy at the invitation of late President Umaru Yar’ Adua.
“Community Policing” as conceived by the British and their Nigerian collaborators is an euphemism for a repressive force that is centrally (or remotely) controlled. In a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual Nigeria, no ‘community police’ can be counted upon to do justice in matters of physical security. As a result of overwhelming rejection of the imposed Central Nigeria Police Force, the ploy was to introduce ‘community police’ to placate the people as if policing will now be their duty or responsibility, directly or otherwise. But it is all a lie!
The Nigeria Police as presently constituted is an instrument of torture, terror and neocolonialism in the hand of those who control power at the centre. Pretending to run a federation while actually operating a unitary polity, the entire citizenry is forcefully held down by the so-called Nigeria Police to be raped by the ruling cabals at the centre. States are mere appendages of the central government and are not accorded the rights of federating units. That is why state governments are denied the right to own their own Police Force and state governors are chief security officers of their states – only on paper. No state Commissioner of Police is appointed by the state governor and none takes orders from any governor but from the President through the Inspector general of police.
Which is why communal and ethno-religious crises remain unresolved and instead is escalating on daily basis. The Plateau State crises is an example. To blame the state governor for the conflicts is share wickedness, or is derived from ignorance or could be outright mischief. There can be no question of good governance in the area of security when it is contracted or misappropriated by a remote and insensitive ‘federal government’ which is an artificial entity with no territory of its own.
There can be no adequate or informed and effective physical security when strangers are in charge. And a policeman who is posted to a town to which he doesn’t belong is a stranger. He should not be expected to know the people, their culture or understand their language. In such an environment, the stranger-policeman is an instrument of terror, a cannon of accidental discharge of killer bullets and a comrade-in-trade with armed and pen robbers. Why? He has no stake in the town or community as he belongs elsewhere. His loyalty and sense of justice can neither be counted or relied upon. He is easily recruited into criminal schemes and partisan contrivance. He is eternally conscious of being a stranger in an ‘unfriendly’ environment and so, often gripped with either fear, anger or contempt for the people. As a result, in Nigeria, we have lost count of unresolved murders, assassinations, disappearances and arsons all of which are expected to be prevented, combated or arrested by an official police outfit under the control of the most immediate political authority.
Co-operation with the Nigeria Police has more often than not ended with the detention and prosecution of the co-operator. The complainant most frequently ends up as the accused. The culprit has often willy-nilly turned the victim. The innocent is found guilty for his naivety. So it turned out that the more co-operation the unitary police enjoys, the more terror it unleashes on its co-operators. The more information is given to them, the stronger and more sophisticated the criminals become.
The usual refrains are: inadequate funds, poor salary, lake of equipment and non-cooperation by the citizenry. But how come that successive inspector-generals retire on bulging tommies? Who impregnated many police officers on patrol duties and at toll gates, or is it road blocks?
The truth is that a unitary police outfit in a multi-national environment is an instrument of terror, a bottomless pit, an irredemable waster with an insatiable appetite. No one can satisfy their demand, pacify their anger, massage their ego or convict them on their errors!
Therefore, hope was kindled when Mike Okiro, ex-Inspector-General of Nigeria Police opined recently (May 26,2010) that “The exclusive federal control of the Police leaves the political heads of the other two tier of government helpless in the fight against crimes and maintenance of law and order. The inability of these elected officials to direct police officers to perform their duties had made a mockery of designation of the officials as the chief security officers of their units of government.” But why did Mike Okiro waited to retire before he realised these truths?
It is my earnest hope and prayers that the vote at Stormont for devolution of power of policing and justice will reverberate across the world of Nigerian political leaders that will give birth to local policing in Nigeria - making physical security a specialized local affair.