Rehash: The Nigeria Police Farce!

By Sam Onimisi
(An essay on Security Challenges facing Nigeria as it affected the Nigeria Police published on January 2001, the contents of which is as relevant today as then, but for a few details)

Sometimes in July 2000 and for reasons of rising crime wave, the Federal Executive Council was reported to have directed both the Minister for Police Affairs and the Inspector General of Police, to issue weekly report to the President.
By now after six months of weekly reports, the presidency must have been overwhelmed with a deluge of apprehensive security reports from which a lot of orders must have been issued for either more men/women and or equipment for the Nigeria Police Force.
I am not in position to know or tell how such presidential orders affected the efficacy of security management across the country. From reports by the news media and eye witnesses, rather than the crime wave abating, it is escalating at an alarming and dangerous progression. Do we now have to doubt that executive orders from the Commander-in-Chief are not enough and may not be what is required to keep criminals at bay?
Before you ask of what measure is capable of reducing crime, we must remind ourselves of the place and duty of the police in the community. The primary duties of a police force are to prevent and detect crime, arrest and prosecute criminals, enforce law and order and keep public peace. To do these, the Police must be well trained, adequately equipped and above all, be informed and familiar with the people and environment to be policed. The issue of salary must be seen in the light of labour forces and the ability of the government to pay reasonable wages to its workforce, policemen and women inclusive. That is to say that a case for special salary scale for the Police must be considered alongside with other equally vital occupational sectors as the police. For, if the argument of importance is pursued, it may be the case that such argument can be won for the police as for the medical and health workforce, the oil, power and energy workers, the teachers and non-teaching staff of educational institutions etc. At the end, such an argument will be lost by all and won by none. In that case, poor salary cannot be an excuse for police inefficiency and corrupt practices – just as good salaries could not improve NEPA and NITEL services nation-wide! The reason(s) for police ineffectiveness and reprobate conduct lies in a fundamental structural deficiency in the force. Do not agree with me yet as I intend to provide proof and reasons for my views.
The first fundamental defect in the Nigeria Police is the absurdity of having a centralized or unitary police force in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious federal system of government. The proponents of this unitary police in a federation argued that a single police force controlled by the central government guarantees or helps to preserve the unity of Nigeria. They take for granted that such a force cannot be used for sectional and partisan purpose. They assumed that the Head of State or President will be neutral in the use of the police at the federating units or states. What more, they argued that a Central Police will be even-handed and uninterested in local affairs thereby ensuring justice and fairness, among the citizens on one hand and between the citizens and the State on the other. A case they often mention was how the Native Authority Police were used against the opposition parties during the First Republic and how the Central Nigeria Police benevolently saved such weaklings of the political system. Of course, not a few of us can see that these arguments fly against the fact of our experience and realities on the ground.
Defects of Unitary Force
If Nigeria is a federation of many ethnic nationalities, with three tiers of government, why must one out of the three tiers of government control the police in all three? The Constitution recognized state governor as the Chief Security Officer of his state but the same document puts the control of police force in the federation under the control of the federal government alone! As it is today, the Commissioner of Police in the State is theoretically under the state governor, practically under the Inspector General of Police who is absolutely responsible to the President. In other words, the Police Commissioner ‘takes’ orders from the state governor except that he is not bound by such orders unless validated by his Inspector General – in which case, in matters of law and order, the State Police Commissioner is made superior to the state governor. Who then, is the Chief Security Officer of the state – the governor or the police commissioner?
You have not forgotten but in case you need a reminder, our unfortunate past as a conquered people by a renegade native army destroyed not only the civil society but also, its police system. Under the archaic wisdom of the military governments, policemen and police force are inferior to the armed forces; therefore the police were forced to connive with the army to subvert civil authority. Our central police force was easily penetrated by the military coupists as was the case beginning from General Gowon in 1966 era up to General Abdulsalam’s tenure in 1999. Police officers were also appointed as military governors or administrators. No matter how well-equipped a central police force is, they too now see themselves not as law-makers and enforcers combined and therefore far superior to civil authority. The implication is that the present civil regime retained the unitary structure of the past military regimes in the police force. Therefore, any pronouncement by the President to the effect that Police Commissioners should take orders from state governors is mere political gimmicks and has no force of law, because it is against the constitution in operation. Now, everyone even with little sense knows that as society advances so also criminals advances. If criminals are aware that their governor is a paper tiger, who cannot assemble any force or respond rapidly to their criminal activities, is that not a sufficient impetus to be more daring in crime? Let’s put it in another way. A gang of criminals, know that the State Police Command is more or less an occupation force, one not loyal to or under the control of the State’s executive authority, and whose rank and file have little or no stake in the stability of the state. Don’t you think such a gang knows that the first step to success in their criminal business is to infiltrate the ranks of the police and secure their tacit agreement as to the sharing formula of the proceeds of crime? Once the interests of both parties to the crime are guaranteed, it is hooves on each party to play its role well enough while the public could go to hell! The governor could as well climb the roof-top and bleat about “dealing ruthlessly with” the robbers, but while the robbers will be laughing at the governor from their dens, the unitary police occupation force will be busy sharing their spoils. The governor could as well go to hell!
ETHNIC CONTROL
The present central police force is subject to absolute control by any major ethnic or dominant religious group that controls the federal government and can be used as they choose. Do you disagree? O.k, let us examine the facts. When the Hausa/Fulani ethnic group gained control of the federal government in 1960, the Nigeria Police was turned to a sectional force between 1960 and 1999 – Obasanjo’s interlude of 1976 – 1979 notwithstanding. In fact, what is known today as ‘Mobile Police’ was created by the government of the Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Nigeria as an instrument of suppression of the Tiv ethnic minority group in 1963/64. Why? Because the Tiv wanted self-determination and rejected the feudal system of the Hausa/Fulani government of Alhaji Ahmadu Bello.
• In 1981, President Shehu Shagari and Governor Ambrose Ali had a face-off in the old Bendel State in the second republic. The bone of contention was political control of the state. Shagari wanted to show his ‘federal might’. Ali wanted to prove his legal right and gave orders to the State Police Command accordingly. His orders were ignored and so, Ali was publicly humiliated! If the Bendel Police Command were not a force of occupation, Shagari couldn’t have ridden roughshod over the government of Ambrose Ali. This is an evidence of how partisan and pliable a central or unitary police force can be!
• Under President Shehu Shagari, the Nigeria Police headed by Sunday Adewusi as Inspector General became a powerful Third Force, equipped with armored tanks to check, control and minimize the number of victims of communal or campus riots. While the intention was to avert the situation when soldiers were often drafted to University campuses to mow down our students, the government of Shagari used the newly improved police force to cow the oppositions to submission and rigged his way to victory in the so-called 1983 ‘landslide’ victory of the NPN.
• The military governments of Generals Babangida and Abacha turned Nigeria virtually into a police state when security agents were used to gun down defenseless students and pro-democracy groups opposed to their tenure elongation or self-succession plots. Babangida and Abacha merely took a cue from a democratic government of Shehu Shagari or even Ahmadu Bello before them. So, whether in a democratic or military government, a central police force in a multi-ethnic Nigeria has always proved to be a terror machine in the hands of dictators against ethnic, religious and political minorities.
• A central or unitary police force has proved to be a haven of injustice, corruption, nepotism both in promotion and appointment. It nurtures bribery, waters corrupt practices and rewards moral vices in the force as well as in the society. By 1998, there were sixteen Assistant Inspectors General of Police in Nigeria, out of which fourteen were northern Alhajis, only two were Southerners, the present Inspector General (Alh. Musliu Smith) was one of the two while the second was a woman! It was a vivid picture of an ethnic, regional and religious establishment presided over by Alhaji Comassie as Inspector-General.
• A unitary police such as we have is open and subject to remote control. This is because officers from certain ethnic groups can be selectively posted to certain states to accomplish a hidden but discriminative agenda by the powers-that-be in the federal government. Such officers could go ahead to take precipitate action awaiting anticipatory approval from their sponsors, which will surely be given. These are common-place occurrence in all past regimes.
(To be continued)

This Police is a Farce!
• The central police are anti-democratic, uncontrollable by state authority and partisan in inter-ethnic riots and disagreements. Police officers selectively posted to Lagos State were accused of partisanship against the Yoruba in the various riots with the Hausa/Fulani and those selectively posted to Kaduna and Kano was similarly accused of religious bias during the Sharia riots.
• Take a look at the life-style of some top police officers, especially among the past Inspectors General and examine their wealth and tell us how they came about such stupendous riches. In a unitary command structure of the police such as we have, funds meant for the welfare of the rank and file, training and equipment find its way to the personal accounts of our IGs. They can then afford to buy houses in Europe and America where their children schools while the force itself is left naked, ill-equipped and paralyzed.
With the above few examples, it will no longer surprise many of us why the ordinary people in the South-West and South-East today would swear on oath that the OPC and the Bakassi Boys are more effective, more preferable, and are better alternative to the Nigeria Police.
Therefore, any government, political party or politician who prefers a central police force is not just a despot. Such a government, party or politician intends to put the police into the same partisan use as the previous governments. It can also be said that if President Obasanjo believes that a central police force is good, then he might as well turn it into a Yoruba dominated outfit, like his Hausa/Fulani predecessors. In which case, whenever an Igbo man becomes President, the police will also become a useful tool for Ndigbo ascendancy and control. But we all suppose to know-or are we not-that a police force is not meant for personal, partisan or political use?

LOYALTY
In a multi-national federation like Nigeria, only a compact but state or regional police force, familiar with the people, terrain and culture of the people can effectively provide physical security, prevent and detect crime thereby ensuring safety of lives and property. The regional or state police are in consonance with true federalism, open in operation with little or no chance of being remotely controlled as the Nigeria Police is. Because they are stakeholders in the safety and stability of their home state/region, their orientation will be that of natural patriotism and high sense of commitment. To insulate them from undue executive influence and prevent them from being used to do dirty jobs against political opponents, the state or regional law creating them should have a section which stipulates that a policeman/women or officer who lend themselves to be so used, is liable to criminal prosecution within a period of twenty years of the commitment of the offence, whether he/she remain in service or not. With this clause, no reasonable person conscious of the fact that he will remain in the same area after retirement, will ruin his career and reputation or agree to go to jail for doing dirty jobs for some transient power holders. Moreover, relatives of such victims of political vendetta will most likely identify the law enforcers or their families and this knowledge is another insurance against police brutality. The incidence or likelihood of bias or partisanship is thus reduced to the barest minimum.
UNITY
It is laughable to say that a unitary Police force guarantees the unity of Nigeria. This belief, deeply entrenched in certain quarters is the result of enduring colonial mentality of some people. How has a central police force controlled by the central government from Lagos or Abuja saved Nigeria from disintegration? “… There should therefore be one Nigeria Police Force which should serve both Federal and regional purpose. There should be no Regional Police Force although in our view it is desirable that the Regional Government should share financial responsibility for the Nigeria Police with the Federal Government. There must be only one channel by which instructions can be conveyed either to the senior Police Officer (the Inspector General) of the Federation or to the senior officers of each Region (Commissioners of Police). They must emanate from the Federal Government” – Willink Commission Report, 1958.
Britain whose agents made the above recommendation was not and still is not having one British Police Force. The Welsh, the Scots, the Irish and English have separate police forces to police each nationality or ethnic area or region. But successive Nigerian governments, still smarting from colonial mentality could not realize that each nation or country has its own peculiarities which should determine policy options and systems. It was one of the recommendations of the Willink Report to keep other Nigerians under the thumb of their chosen successors, thereby substituting British Colonial overlordship with a local one. The truth is that today, the Nigeria Police as constituted under the sole authority of the federal government is, one of the greatest obstacle not only against unity but also, against democracy and the rule of law. If the defunct Soviet Union could collapse despite their unitary and brutally repressive police force, such a police as we have cannot stop Nigeria from disintegration, if she must! The concept of a central or unitary policy force as a guarantee against disunity is a typical Nigerian Political Farce! Otherwise, there is no country in the world where the unity of a nation-state rests with a central police force! The question of Nigerian unity or the unity of any nation is a function of equity and fairness in the polity, government and resource allocation. The military is known to be more cohesive and coercive than the police, yet in their 30 years of brutal rule, the unity of Nigeria was more on paper than real.
If the Nigerian people so desire and if any federal government so wish, the police force and other such security sectors could have common training schools, attend same courses, wear common uniforms except for a separate state or regional emblems or tags. The other area of difference is their remuneration. Each region or state ought to determine and fix salary scales for their workers based on their resources! This is one way of remaining a true federation, strengthening the regions or states without taking anything away from the central government. The central or federal government is already very powerful, having the control over the Army, Navy and Air force, all of which are federal outfits.
If the fear is that ethnic, religious and political minorities could fall victims of a state or regional police force, this is only a temporary ordeal and such injustice is even a blessing in disguise. By the reason of that adversary and injustice, the spirit of liberty and freedom are being kindled and such minorities or victims would then fight to free themselves in the spirit of democracy and self determination – a fight which has always been won by the just. No centralized police force has or can ever help such minorities, rather it tends to add more to their burden as the various check-points or ‘toll-gates’ at trouble spots proved. It only postpones their freedom day indefinitely.
Do you need more evidence or reasons why a federation needs various police forces for the federating units? Try these!
• Most ‘accidental discharge’ resulting in death of innocent citizens emanated from policemen serving in states other than their own.
• Travelers who took refuge at Police Stations and who got killed or ‘missing’ are often not of the same ethnic group or state with the policemen on duty.
• Arrested criminals who often escaped from custody are in most cases, not of the same state or ethnic stock with the policemen from whom they escape.
• Mounted road blocks at trouble spots where extortion takes place are often manned by policemen from other states or ethnic groups.
• Whenever a complainant becomes the accused, it is often not because he is guilty of any offence, rather in most cases, he is not of the same ethnic group with the policemen on duty or the real accused has paid the ‘right bribe’.
Beside these: Nigerians live in foreign countries and millions of foreigners live in Nigeria. Neither Nigeria nor these foreign countries have sent policemen to protect and guard their nationals. The reciprocal understanding between countries can be replicated between states or regions in Nigeria. After-all, if Hausa/Fulani investments are unsafe in Lagos by reason of state or regional police force, the Yoruba and Igbo properties in Kano and Sokoto will equally be imperiled by the same token.
An unwieldy unitary police force is like the Dead Sea where no animal life survives because it is full of salt water. It is a dark wilderness – a perfect ground for human predators to feed fat on the citizens. Nigeria is too big, too diverse to have a single police force. Even if the President demands a daily security report from the Police, given its present structure, system and orientation, nothing can improve the quality of its service.
If this centralized police system remains in place, we shall continue to have more ethnic militias who could truly provide security for the people. I bet that the OPC, Bakassi Boys, the APC and the Egbesu Boys will continue to flourish. Why not, if not? If the States that instituted state religion through Sharia are free to employ ‘Sharia police’ to enforce Sharia laws, what stops other states from creating their own police force from ethnic militias? The cold truth is that ordinary citizens find more comfort with the ethnic militias than with a surrogate police force who are either inseparable or undistinguished from armed robbers. The federal government should either transfer all police officers, ranks or file to their own states of origin to constitute the states’ police command or let the ethnic militias be! Better still, the states; acting on the principle of a tier of government should establish their own police force without recourse to the federal government.