Ahead of the November 1 take-off date for Operation Positive Identification by the Nigerian Army, the House of Representatives’ standing committee on the army has set up a Subcommittee headed by Tajudeen Adefisoye, to interface with the Army and address areas of concerns and report back to the Committee next week Tuesday.
The Committee Chairman, Abdulrazak Namdas took the decision Thursday at the end of the meeting between the House Committee and the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai to seek explanations on the purpose and rationale behind the proposed exercise.
Namdas while speaking earlier, wondered why the Army was bent on carrying out a stop and search assignment whereas the Police were saddled with such responsibility.
“Giving the quantum of issues at hand, we are shocked to hear that the military is adding to its authority by taking the job of the Police or Immigration.
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“So we felt that it was necessary for us to sit down with the military; you have your roles to play and we expect that you cannot add for yourself especially roles not envisaged in the Constitution.
“Today’s military is subservient to the civil rule and you take authority from the civil; as a parliament, we will not rely only on information in the papers and that’s why we called you to explain more,” he said.
Members of the Committee were sharply divided over the appropriateness and legality of the planned Operation Positive Identification by the Nigerian Army, with some showing support and admiration for the initiative and others vehemently opposing it, citing constitutional boundaries set for the military in areas of internal security.
Christopher Ngoro from Cross River in a lead debate as opposed to the exercise, saying that “no matter how civil the Army representative tried to sound, there was nothing civil about declaring war in the guise of OPI”.
Ngoro said the National Assembly is the only body with the power to ask the President to declare war if the President applies for such parliamentary approvals.
“The Police is trained to identify the enemy and arrest the enemy, so if Nigerians are the target of this operation then we are worried as representatives of the people. OPI is a national operation and if you go on with this operation it then means you are declaring war on Nigeria. This particular operation contravenes the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria,” he argued.
Ahmadu Jaha from Borno who spoke against the operation said, “after listening to you on this issue, I can only say this is a misplacement of priority. I have been following this exercise since 2009 when this problem started. I can tell you that they don’t insist that you must present a valid identification card like what we know as a driver’s license, national identification card, international passport or voter’s card.”
“All they ask you to present is just anything that identifies you and when you don’t have you can be charged. However, even in the northeast, no military man stops you and says you should identify yourself. They carry out this operation in conjunction with JTF (Joint Task Force). In fact, in most cases, it is the police amongst the JTF that ask people for means of identification”.
Benjamin Mzondo from Benue State called for a halt to the policy as it would be unconstitutional and a usurpation of Police responsibility, arguing that operations regarding internal security should not be led by the Army, but the Police which should, in turn, seek the collaboration of the army whenever necessary.
But speaking in support of the matter, Shina Peller from Oyo said, “I applaud the Army for even conceiving this idea. The country is currently facing a mirage of security challenges and if the army is devising other higher technical ideas of curtailing this menace then they should be commended. However, the army should apply decorum and I want the army to carry our an explanatory advert. Let’s not throw away this idea rather we should consider the advantage and disadvantages “.
Also, Ibrahim Mustapha from Sokoto who spoke in support of the Army said, “we have to be conscious of the fact that Nigeria is facing serious security challenges, so I have come to terms that OPI is a very good idea. I commend your Army) for a job well done”.
The Chief of Army Staff, represented by Usman Mohammed, Chief of Military/Civil Relations responding to concerns raised said, the military which is involved in ‘Operation Lafiya Dole in the North East, has as one of its methods, Operation Positive Identification designed to pick out fleeing criminals and Boko haram elements from the Northeast.
“We use it in carrying out our operations based on the intelligence available to us. Now since we have smoked them out of their enclaves, many of them according to our intelligence have spread out and are moving across the country. So in the wisdom of the COAS, he felt we could expand the OPI to other parts of the country in order to identify and arrest these Boko haram elements.
“There will be no additional deployment of personnel on the roads, no roadblocks, and there won’t be harassment of anyone who’s not with a questionable record.
This operation is intelligence-driven with assistance from other sister agencies. The exercise is nothing new, and it’s going to benefit us security-wise just as we have been doing in the Northeast”, he said.
The Army Chief also said: “What we are trying to do is to begin from November 1st and spread it down to the South East, South-South and the North Central, and we are trying our best to apprehend these criminals and Boko haram terrorists who are escaping from the North East to other parts of Nigeria.”
