By Oguwike Nwachuku
When Senate President Bukola Saraki yielded the floor to Senator Victor Umeh (APGA, Anambra Central) to speak on a matter of urgent importance, little did the lawmakers know that he would speak on plans by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to whittle down the strength of Vigilance Groups in the states.
Idris had sold to Nigerians, many of who are not conversant with the way the security architecture is run, that insecurity nationwide is connected to the small arms in the hands of Vigilance Groups.
This is not the first time the police would come up with such an idea, any time they seem overwhelmed with the challenges of effective policing.
But in most cases, too, the idea would be relaxed after the states concerned would have massaged the ego of the police leadership through different ways and means, if you understand what I mean.
The alarm bell Idris sounded over small arms in custody of Vigilance Groups was simply one of many precursors to the bigger deals the police leadership intermittently cuts like the withdrawal of its personnel from so-called Very Important Persons (VIPs).
Indeed, the nexus between the planned withdraw of small arms from Vigilance Groups and withdrawal of police personnel from VIPs is the anticipated tension the policy statement would create and eventually cause citizens to seek help.
Umeh caught the joke early enough hence he pleaded with Idris to leave the Anambra State Vigilance Service alone, a programme he says has served the state for more than nine years.
Umeh said: “The good people of Anambra State are not comfortable with the recent order to withdraw the small arms in the custody of the vigilante men.
“Today, Anambra State is referred as the safest state in Nigeria; before it was notoriously unsafe.
“These vigilante people have complemented the efforts of the conventional security forces in combating crime.
“It is important while we condemn vigilante in some states; we have to commend the use of vigilante in places where it has worked effectively, like in my own state (Anambra).
“My people want these vigilance services in Anambra State. Indeed, if you dispense with vigilance services in Anambra State, the state of insecurity will return and our people are very anxious about it.
“I want to use this opportunity to ask the Inspector-General of Police to leave Anambra State alone. That state is very peaceful, very safe and the safest state in Nigeria.”
I agree with Umeh that the crises some states have with their vigilance services are caused by ignorance of how they ought to work. The police know that well-structured Vigilance Groups complement their efforts hence they encourage their creation by states.
That is why those who understand how the vigilance services work as well as those who designed the template (including the police) as a veritable tool for crime control advise that retired police officers, soldiers and others versed in paramilitary activities should head such outfits.
The heads of vigilance services who understand the intricacies of security and the import of law and order in a complex society know the types of arms to be used, and also give account of such arms when required.
Therefore, when Idris announced on Monday, March 19 that police officers attached to VIPs, including political and public office holders, would be withdrawn, I and some other persons were not surprised.
Idris said a Task Force would be put in place to ensure compliance.
He told a news conference of senior officers that the directive also affects private businessmen, multi-national companies and other corporate organisations enjoying Special Police Protection (SPP).
In what seemed like reading the riot act, he lamented the abuse of police supernumerary number plates and illegal use of siren and covering of vehicle number plates by motorists and warned those fond of doing so to desist.
Idris had directed holders of police SPY number plates to return them to the Force Transport Officer and apply for re-validation.
He asked state Commissioners of Police to enforce his directive and arrest violators, with a stern order that the list of task force teams that would ensure compliance should be sent to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Operations) by March 31.
Unfortunately, the reason for the withdrawal of police personnel attached to VIPs and others is linked to the same cliché, “our current security challenge.”
Idris said: “In view of the current security challenges in the country, it has become expedient for the Nigeria Police Force to streamline the deployment of its personnel attached to political and public office holders, aimed at enhancing effective and efficient policing of the country.
“To this effect, a memo will be forwarded to the President for approval which will serve as a guideline or template for deployment to VIPs, political and public office holders in the country.
“Accordingly, a directive for withdrawal of all police officers deployed to VIPs, political and public office holders with immediate effect is hereby given.”
A task force whose office is domiciled at Force Headquarters and headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Dankwara, to ensure compliance was constituted while state Commissioners of Police are expected to replicate the template from Force Headquarters at their commands.
But as is always the case, Idris did not close the window for the business aspect of the withdrawal going by the caveat in the riot act he reeled out.
“Businessmen, corporate organisations and individuals who require special police protection and ‘are found worthy’ would be considered by the Special Protection Unit of the force on application for re-validation through the state Commissioners of Police where they are resident.
“By so doing, I am charging the Commissioners of Police with the responsibility of supervising such official deployment and thereby holding them accountable,” Idris said.
Those who served as IGP before Idris did the same thing he has done. I doubt if those who will come after him will do something different.
In the life of every IGP in Nigeria, two directives always suffice – withdrawal of police personnel from VIPs and disbandment of police check points.
They seem to be routine policy comments in form of a template that successive IGPs pull out from their drawer at will for implementation, in most cases without tweaking.
They are all predictable directives and one thing is certain, the police leadership eventually reassigns personnel to those who can afford them, whether VIPs or not, and also returns same to disbanded check points when it thinks people have forgotten such a directive was given.
In all the cases, the police leadership is mindful of the monetary gains from such directives.
In the last nine years, at least from the era of Ogbonna Onovo (2009-2010) as IGP, withdrawal and reinstatement of police personnel assigned to VIPs has remained routine.
Onovo ordered immediate withdrawal of all orderlies attached to private individuals. However, no sooner was the order given than state Commissioners of Police began identifying those exempted.
In October 2010, a month after he took over from Onovo, then IGP Hafiz Ringim called for immediate removal of police personnel attached to private individuals, an order that failed to hold water because it did not take time before all the orderlies were returned.
In February 2012, Ringim’s successor, Mohammed D. Abubakar, also dished out his own directive on withdrawal of police personnel from private persons.
Abubakar cited professionalism, efficiency and integrity of police operations as reasons but when it came to sustaining professionalism he reneged like those before him.
Idris’ immediate predecessor, Solomon Arase, ordered the withdrawal of all officers from private individuals a few weeks before he left office.
Arase, like other IGPs before him, complained that the police could not afford to attach officers to private individuals when there are more pressing security challenges.
In fact, what is going on in the police with regard to the withdrawal of police personnel from VIPs is just a cycle, or an irritating hogwash.
A colleague said it is for show and to trigger renegotiation of conditions, especially if the postings were done by a predecessor or an IGP whose tenure is about to end.
I agree with those who say in the coming weeks something will definitely happen and if you hazard a guess, many VIPs will run to the police leadership to plead that their orderlies be reassigned to them, and as usual, they would succeed and the order would be a forgone thing till renewal by another IGP.
That was exactly what happened on Thursday , March 22 when Idris reportedly suspended the exercise.
When on January 19, 2018 I published in this column “Idris, Nigeria’s security is for sale” it was to draw the attention of the police leadership to the misuse of its personnel of which, of course, they are the major violators.
I evaluated the human capital of the Nigeria police vis-a-vis other countries and argued that the greatest challenge undermining our security system is the failure of the police to manage officers in the interest of the society.
I said: “You think Nigeria does not have enough police officers when you hear the excuses the police give when there is talk of personnel to deal with crime. But the reality is the misallocation of police human capital.
“Of the 30 countries with the largest number of police officers enough to police 100,000 persons by an approximated 222 policemen, or one policeman to 450 persons, according to the United Nations’ recommendations, the Nigeria police rank the 10th.
“These are the figures across the globe. China (1,600,000), India (1,585,353), United States (913,161), Russia (756,859), Indonesia (579,000), Mexico (470,676), Brazil (436,514), Turkey (412,624), Pakistan (354,221), Nigeria (350,000), Italy (276,750), Japan (251,939), Spain (249,907), Argentina (244,683).
“Germany (243,625), Thailand (230,000), France (220,000), The Philippines (170,000), Algeria (160,000), South Africa (156,489), Bangladesh (155,800), Ukraine (152,000), Colombia (150,000), Belarus (136,990), England and Wales (UK) (129,584), Peru (104,000), Malaysia (102,000), Poland (100,000), South Korea (99,060), and Kenya (95,000).”
What really propelled “Idris, Nigeria’s security is for sale” was my observation during the last Christmas and New Year celebrations where the glaring feature in the South East was the ubiquity of policemen guarding all manner of people the police tag VIPs.
Enquiries indicated that the deployments were at the instance of the Commissioners of Police with the full knowledge of the highest echelon of the police leadership, all of whom benefit from the charade.
Ours is a society where every Dick, Tom and Harry who could afford a fairly used SUV has access to police escort, and in most cases a retinue of them, at the expense of the poor masses whose taxes are used to maintain the institution.
A system where the police leadership complains of inadequate manpower but at the same time abuses the one at its disposal by creating an army of men and women who see “protection” by the police as either a way of life or demonstration of status symbol, is in itself a source of grave societal insecurity.
The greatest disservice the police authority can do to its personnel, who ought to pursue career in policing in line with international best practices, is to subject them to the ignoble role of protecting men and women, some of them criminals, in the name of VIPs because of the filthy lucre they get. Nothing can be more shameful and nauseating.
If Idris is waking up now to the realisation that time to stop that nonsense is now, we wish him good luck.
But if experience is any guide, he will soon run into murky waters on the same policy because the spirit that afflicted his predecessors and made them return to their vomit is yet to be exorcised from the system.
If Idris, his team and some Nigerians benefitting from the pantomime do not see it as a tragedy that the bulk of police personnel meant to safeguard 180 million Nigerians is parceled out to people of questionable identity, the international community does.
Except the interest and preoccupation of Idris and his team ally completely with the overall interest of the society, it will be difficult for them to monitor directly or indirectly through their subordinates the act of criminality that oozes from reckless deployment of hard trained personnel to the so-called VIPs.
Much as some prominent Nigerians like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar commend Idris for the withdrawal pronouncement of police from private hands and suggest he deploys them to the crime prone areas like the North East, I know that the pressure to return to the status quo will soon mount because of the caveat Idris provided.
On face value, the idea of using the public police to protect people should be an incontrovertible one if the police leadership is concerned about the alternative. But they are not, even though the alternatives are a deluge.
If Nigeria’s police institution is developing to a level where private security firms are seen to be competent to complement the efforts of the public police, then it would not matter how many people want security protection.
And there are several such private security outfits that can be helped to render the services which the leadership of the public police has hijacked because they see them as a money spinner.
If the police under Idris should be taken seriously, they should help grow and nurture well-structured private security outfits that can fill in the gap for those who need police protection.
That is where helping to encourage and strengthen the States Vigilance Services also comes into play. If the police provide them with the right environment structurally and otherwise, those who want security escort can benefit from their services.
Police intervention in these areas also has the potential of helping to create jobs for unemployed youths as many of them will be taken off the street.
Unless these measures are considered to deal with the situation, there is nothing to show that another announcement about withdrawal of police personnel from VIPs and other private hands will not be made anytime soon, because it is just a routine to deal with the needs of the policy makers.
And if you are still in doubt, ponder why on Thursday, March 22 Idris shifted the date of withdrawal of policemen attached to VIPs to April 20 against his earlier with “immediate effect.”
That, simply, is how the police authority rolls on matters of compromise.