Discarding a Bogus Appellation

Davidson Iriekpen writes that governors need to have firm control of the security apparatus in their states, against the background of persistent security challenges in the country.

Governor Abdul’aziz Yari of Zamfara State stirred the hornet’s nest penultimate week when he publicly resigned as the Chief Security of Officer of his state over lack of control of the security machinery in the state. He based the decision on the seeming helplessness of the state government over recurring killings in the state. He added that as the CSO, he had no control over the security machinery of the state, and there was no need to be regarded as such.

Yari deplored the prevailing situation where he could not take decisions on strategies for protecting the state and its people, and have them implemented. He lamented that it was disheartening that killings in the state had continued in spite of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s order to security agencies to end the incessant bloodletting across the country. He said the state government was spending huge amounts on security, to no avail, and therefore urged the people to be more faithful to God and embark on special prayers.

“We have been facing serious security challenges over the years, but in spite of being governor and CSO of the state, I cannot direct security officers on what to do or sanction them when they err. The CSO nomenclature is just a name. We cannot keep quiet while our people are being killed daily. We are going to cooperate with all stakeholders to bring the situation to an end,” he said.

For almost two years, bandits moved from one local government to another in his state, killing hundreds of people, unhindered. The last attack was at Birnin Magaji Local Government Area on June 13, which claimed 38 lives. Since last January, over 600 persons were reportedly killed by bandits in the state.

For now, the likes of Fura Girke, Majira, Kanawa, Yargeba, Takoka, Bargaja, Bundungel, Bantsa, Unguwar Matanda and Makera have become ghost villages in Zamfara State. Most of the inhabitants are too scared to return. A large number of Internally Displaced Persons from Zamfara are now streaming into neighbouring Katsina State. As at yesterday, the IDP camp in Kankara Local Government has over 3,000 people.

Yari held the security chiefs responsible for the worsening security situation in his state. The Birnin Magaji attack, he said, occurred nine days after the president ordered the deployment of more security personnel in the state. He told Nigerians that the likes of the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai; Chief Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar and Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, no longer obeyed President Buhari. According to him, weeks after the president directed that more security personnel be deployed to Zamfara, not one reported to the state.

Nigerians won’t forget in a hurry how the IG, Idris, disobeyed the president’s directive to relocate to Benue State to curb attacks by killer herders. Buratai and Abubakar have also failed to curb rampaging Boko Haram and killer herders, without sanctions.

To many analysts, the governor has not said anything new about the “abnormal” system currently in operation in the country, which over-centralises power in the present federal structure. The 1999 Constitution stipulates that there “shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the federation or any part thereof.”

Here lies the bane of the security challenges being experienced in the country. Majority of opinion shapers believe that if state governors had the powers to resolve security issues, and if the heads of security formations in various states were under the control of governors, a lot of the security challenges in their domain would have been quickly resolved before they got out of control.

It was against this backdrop that Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike of Rivers State, recently held the federal government responsible for underdevelopment of states across the country. Wike said state governors should no longer be addressed as CSOs, but chief logistic officers, who only provide logistics for federal security agencies, but do not get anything in return. The Rivers governor while addressing the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 9 at the Institute of Security Service (ISS) in Abuja, noted that the centralisation of security and the poor use of the security agencies have negatively impacted on the development of states across the country, with several anti-people measures instituted to work against the attainment of peace.

“The federal government is simply too overbearing with too much powers and resources at its disposal. We know the recurrent rifts between the federal government and the states over development issues, including revenue sharing, resource control, excess crude oil account, appointment into federal agencies and arbitrary location or withdrawal of federally-funded projects. Developments in Rivers State in the last few months point to the capture of the state’s security system by some special interest groups in their attempt to overawe the state government and achieve their political agenda.

“Thus, frequent transfer of the Commissioner of Police and other Director of the State Security Service has become a norm. I am presently working with the fifth commissioner of police since I assumed office barely a year ago. Indeed, things have gone so bizarre that senior officers, who have had political brushes with me, now head every sensitive police formation in the state.

“Federal government agencies have been turned against state and local governments, and have constituted themselves into a stumbling block by deliberately embarking on unconstitutional activities that have been stalling development in states.”

Just like in Zamfara, Wike’s fears manifested when in one fell swoop, Fulani herdsmen killed over 400 persons and burnt scores of houses in Agatu, Benue State, over grazing rights. Thus, the hapless villagers became internally displaced persons in their own land. The state Governor, Samuel Ortom, was just as helpless as the victims. Finding himself between the horns of a dilemma, he raced to Abuja to brief the presidency. Ortom demanded improved security to contain the contagion. “I think the situation in Benue, especially in Agatu, is getting out of control,” a bewildered Ortom said. Yet, as governor, he is the CSO of his state without as much any control.

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State had a similar experience on April 25, 2016 when the same Fulani herdsmen descended on Nimbo community in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area, killed over 40 people and razed a church to the ground, in an early morning raid. Ugwuanyi wept when he visited scenes of the attack. Motivated by the seeming helplessness of all the security agencies, he set up a Neighbourhood Watch, to protect his people.

Over two years after the mayhem, the police have yet to explain how a planned massacre of which they received an intelligence report, illustrated at an emergency state security meeting the governor presided over, still took place. Ugwuanyi’s loss of faith in the police has been copied by his peers.

Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State has had to mobilise hunters in his domain for self-help when he saw that police and other security agencies in his state have failed him in helping to protect lives and property.

Since 1999, governors have been at the mercy of the federal government and its security agencies. While they provide virtually all the logistics needed for the efficiency of the police, they do not in most cases get anything in return than sheer intimidation.

These logistics which run into billions of naira include operational vehicles, communication equipment and armoured personnel carriers, amongst others. Yet, the commissioners of police and heads of security agencies are not answerable to the governors. Sometimes, so obdurate are some of the security chiefs that they tell the governors to their face that they only take orders from ‘Abuja’.

This scenario has given rise to the increasing calls on the federal government to restructure the country by amending the constitution to allow for a multi-level police system rather than a police force, whose boss does not know what is happening in the states.

This is why the Chairman of the Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation and former Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Babangida Aliyu, described Nigerian governors as “mere glorified chief security officers of their states.” Leading some members of Board of Trustees of the foundation on a sympathy visit to Governor Ortom, over the recent attacks on the state, Aliyu noted that experiences he garnered while at the helm of affairs of his state have shown that state governors do not have powers to resolve security issues, in a situation where all the heads of security formations respond to directives from their superior in Abuja. He stated that state governors do not have control over security apparatus, a development he said has made it impossible for governors to quickly resolve security challenges in their domain.

On his part, Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, stressed that “no commissioner of police will listen to the directive or instruction of any governor.” Speaking against the background of the security situation in the country, he also made a case for state police, saying the idea remained the panacea for ensuring effective security nationwide.

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This scenario has given rise to the increasing calls on the federal government to restructure the country by amending the constitution to allow for a multi-level police system