If there ever was any doubt about the abysmal level to which governance or leadership in Nigeria has fallen and how small the minds are in very high places; if further proof was ever required that President Muhammadu Buhari does not understand let alone know what it takes to tackle the insecurity that has transformed Nigeria into a killing field and taken the country hostage, one needs look no further than the pig-headed decision to deploy 144 officers of the Nigeria Police in Somalia under an African Union (AU) peace keeping mission. The public outrage is understandable because the rising security challenges facing the country, has been exacerbated by a shortage of competent hands to combat insecurity; and the deployment is, very shamefully, an ode to the callous insensitivity and nonchalant attitude of the political class of Nigeria’s wobbly democracy. There’s definitely no redeeming feature of this depressing development besides the abuse of presidential authority and lawless arrogance of power. It’s pathetic!
To add insult to injury, the police having kept quiet about the deployment and Nigerians only became aware after the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) announced the arrival of a contingent of 144 policemen and women from Nigeria to boost the country’s security. The officers, including women, departed Nigeria last weekend, with Samuel Ita as commander. Although the police PRO, Commissioner Frank Mba defended the deployment as fulfilment of an international obligation and a global best practice, security analysts queried the essence of the deployment at a time when the police high command should be mobilizing more officers to protect lives and property in the wake of the incessant attacks on police formations, especially in the Southeast, amid the rising wave of insecurity.
On deployment of the Nigerian officers, AMISOM police operations coordinator, Daniel Gwambal, said 30 of the 144 officers would serve for one year in Beletweyne, Hirshabelle State, while the rest will serve in various roles in the capital, Mogadishu. Gwambal, in a statement issued in Mogadishu, said: “They are here in order to fulfil the mandate of AMISOM with regards to operational support to the Somalis and at the same time to mentor the Somali Police Force (SPF). There are certain specific duties that are also incumbent on them to perform while they are here such as regular patrols at checkpoints, guard static duties and other duties that involve general policing.” He stated that the Nigerian police officers would also provide VIP escort and protection services, train and assist the Somali police in public order management; and also conduct joint patrols with their Somali counterparts and secure key government installations and high-level events. The AU mission said the arrival of the Nigerian contingent was a major boost to law and order efforts, as they would be working with their Somali counterparts in ensuring improved security in liberated areas.
It is perhaps trite to say that never in the history of Nigeria have there been acts more shocking and scandalous in executive recklessness and stupidity than deploying police officers abroad at a time when their services are badly needed at home. Whoever ordered the deployment of these officers committed treason against the Nigerian people. What on earth can be the justification for this treasonable act in a country beset with multidimensional antediluvian and pedestrian challenges? Does it not smack of a giant dancing naked in the full glare of the public to see Nigerian police officers maintaining law and order in Somalia while their own country has been reduced to a haven for terrorists, kidnappers and bandits? It is a crying shame that neither President Buhari nor the recently appointed interim IGP, Usman Baba was perceptive enough to see the bad optics of such deployment giving its inauspicious timing. Either way, the buck stops on their desk, so they should take responsibility for the faux pas; and with their heads in their hands in shame, spend some time meditating on their failure to the nation and seek restitution by revoking the mission and redeploying the 144 police officers back home immediately.
The home known as Nigeria is burning and Mr. President and his police handlers are fiddling! Any such a deployment of Nigerian police officers abroad is some fiddling too much. As flickers of violence spring forth from different parts of the country, there is a growing realization that as a geopolitical unit, Nigeria is systematically being squeezed in from all four cardinal points – north, south, east and west. The emergence of a dubious audacity is gradually dousing the potency of rightful law enforcement. Owing to the prevailing volatile security atmosphere, the security situation in Nigeria is relaying the signs of a nation under siege. In the last few months, scores of police stations have been destroyed and officers killed in the Southeast and the South-south. The stories are very depressing. In the early hours of Wednesday, unknown gunmen attacked the divisional police headquarters, Adani in Uzo-Uwani LGA of Enugu State. Two of the police officers on duty were killed and several others injured while the police station was burnt. The attack lasted for about one hour. This came after the attack on the headquarters of the Imo police command in Owerri, on April 5. For over 30 minutes, gunmen ransacked the police command’s HQ unhindered, burning buildings and vehicles. There was no resistance, not even a feeble one. The poorly-equipped and poorly-motivated policemen all ran away. The attackers left jubilating. Weeks after the attack, not a single gunman has been arrested.
The truth be told; Nigeria is in a huge mess in terms of policing. Last Wednesday, three policemen on duty were shot dead by gunmen in Izzi LGA of Ebonyi State. In the same Ebonyi State, on January 8, three policemen were killed at Onueke police station in Ezza South LGA. On February 4, the police divisional headquarters in Isu, Onicha LGA was burnt and on March 1, the Iboko divisional police station in Izzi LGA was attacked. In Imo on Feb 5, two policemen were killed at Umulowo in Obowo LGA, while on February 25, the Aboh Mbaise divisional police headquarters was burnt. On March 9, the police station in Ihitte-Uboma LGA was burnt. A policeman was killed at a checkpoint in Neni, Anaocha LGA of Anambra State on March 18. The following day, another policeman died at Ekwulobia station, Nanka. On March 22, three policemen were killed in Abiriba, Ohafia LGA of Abia State. Two more were killed on February 23 at the Abayi divisional police headquarters in Aba, while another was killed on February 1 at the Omoba station in Isiala Ngwa South LGA. In Cross River, gunmen killed six policemen and a soldier in an attack at a checkpoint in Obubra, on the Calabar-Ikom highway. The attack came barely two weeks after four policemen were killed also at a checkpoint in Idundu, near Calabar. The list is endless.
Isn’t it incredible that at a time like this, anyone outside a mental asylum should be deploying police officers on peace-keeping missions abroad? Today, all over Nigeria, the sense of fear is palpable: insecurity is so prevalent that all citizens are helpless. The Police Force is befuddled. It is neither fighting criminals, nor fighting crime effectively. Crime is fought with skills, technology and funding and it is an open secret that the Police Force, as it is, does not possess the operational capacity for Nigeria’s need. Given the poor state of law enforcement in the country, this is the time to re-emphasize unequivocally that it is high time the government considered the difficult terrain and the demoralizing condition under which the Nigeria police and other law enforcement agencies work. It is scandalous as the problems only magnify the already battered image of the police.
As insecurity spreads like wild fire all over Nigeria, the refrain is that it is no longer safe to presume anywhere or anybody is safe. The deployment of the 144 police officers to Somalia is an affront on the sensibilities of Nigerians ravaged by insecurity at home and that is bad for Nigerian government at all levels. President Buhari should be mobilizing all Nigerian police officers for a rapid response to the emergent needs of the people, instead of deploying them abroad. If the primary duty of a state is to safeguard the lives and property of citizens, and if indeed as it is popularly stated, democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people, no one can be faulted for saying President Buhari is defying and defiling Nigerian democracy.
