The National Assembly deserves commendation for taking the initiative to grab the bull by the horn by calling for memoranda from the public, as stakeholders, on the highly politicised matter of creation of State Police in all the thirty-six states of the Federation plus the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) which would replace the present structure of a central control and command under the Inspector-General of Police who reports directly to the President and Commander-In-Chief, Armed Forces of Nigeria.
Unfortunately, past experience has taught many to be wary of sending memoranda to the National Assembly. Literally, hundreds (if not thousands) of memoranda have been piling up in the archives of the Senate and House of Representatives with no tangible results.
Hence, most of the memoranda have landed on the desk of Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations who is struggling with a monumental dilemma – whether to handle the matter himself and recommend it for consideration at the next United Nations General Assembly scheduled for March 18, 2021 or delegate the responsibility to his very able Deputy Secretary-General HajiaAmina Mohammed.
From the pile of memoranda, here is a random sample:
“A pensioner drove his brand new BMW car at 100 mph. Looking through his rear view mirror, he saw a police car behind him.
He floored it to 140, then 150, … then 155,… Suddenly he thought,
“I’m too old for this nonsense!”
So he pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the police car to catch up with him.
The officer walked up to him, looked at his watch and said,
“Sir, my shift ends in ten minutes. Today is Friday and I’m take off for the weekend with my family. If you can give me a good reason that I’ve never heard before, why you were speeding….I’ll let you go.”
The man (a Gregorian !!) looked very seriously at the police man, and replied:
“Years ago, my wife ran off with a policeman, I thought you were bringing her back.”!!
The cop left saying, Have a good day, Sir. Up Gregs !!
As confirmation of the centrality of the “Police Case” within the much broader matrix of the “State Case”, the “Nigerian Tribune” newspaper’s front page editorial of 31st December 2020 provides unassailable evidence.
Headline: “FINANCIAL TIMES’ FAILED-STATE WARNING”
“The Financial Times of the United Kingdom recently warned that Nigeria had started to exhibit the traits of a failed state. It posited that the government needed to stave off that possibility by taking urgent steps. It cited, among other developments, the shooting of peaceful protesters at the Lekki toll plaza in Lagos and the abduction of over 333 schoolboys from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State and concluded that the most populous country on the African continent was “teetering on the brink”. It stated frankly that the Buhari administration owed it a compelling duty “to draw lines in the sand,” and to “redouble efforts not to lose grip on security.” It also advised the administration to restore trust in key institutions like the judiciary, the security services and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which will preside over the 2023 elections. It added: “More than that, Nigeria needs a generational shift. The broad coalition that found political expression this year in the EndSARS movement against police brutality provides a shard of optimism.
The implications of the most populous country on the African continent failing as a state are indeed too horrendous to contemplate. The terror campaigns in the land are not helping matters, and it is disturbing that bandits are on the prowl, extorting huge sums of money from state and local governments, and from families and individuals. Boko Haram terrorism has persisted in the country for 11 years without any reprieve, with thousands of people brutally dispatched into their early graves. Rather than abate, terrorism has become more virulent. It has in fact lately been manifesting in the form of massive banditry and there is scarcely any place in the country that is considered safe or commodious for human habitation. Worse still, these nefarious activities are being compounded by kidnapping and ritual killings. To worsen matters, the economy is on a downward plunge with spiralling inflation rate occasioned by the exchange rate. The populace is hungry and angry and the government is ensconced in wonderland.
The prevailing climate is so bad that when the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, recently announced that the force was poised to arrange “air-tight” security for the country during the yuletide, Nigerians laughed him to scorn. The disproportionate and inequitable police-to-citizen ratio in the country is well known. Obviously, the Financial Times’ damning verdict came at a moment when the Nigerian government seemed confused about the affairs of the country and needed a shot in the arm to get its bearing right. However, the Federal Government, typically prone to dismissing criticism as the work of mischief makers, has not found its voice this time around. Apart from the comment by President Muhammadu Buhari that only God could secure the borders, mum has been the word.
