IGP Abubakar can’t win war against corruption all by himself – AIG Abubakar

Let’s briefly hear about the force of yesteryears and that of today vis-à-vis its inability to nip in the bud the rising security challenges in the country today.   The comparison of the past and the present will help in the understanding of the future. But the police of the past cannot be the same […]

Let’s briefly hear about the force of yesteryears and that of today vis-à-vis its inability to nip in the bud the rising security challenges in the country today.

 

The comparison of the past and the present will help in the understanding of the future. But the police of the past cannot be the same with police of nowadays. Although the police work is still the same, you cannot compare the policemen of today and that of yesteryears. In those years you had people who were committed and those who wanted to serve. But now, a lot of water has passed under the bridge. In those days people were cooperating with the police; any information they had that relates to crime they report to the police. Nowadays, even when a policeman sees a crime being committed, he would looked the other way. In UK, if a father is quarrelling with a mother or daughter, the son will take a phone and call the police. How many reporters have seen policemen taking bribes and they have taken their photographs or report it? They want police to do something about crime, but they are not assisting the police to stamp out crime. Even people in leadership, sometimes, now intervene to free criminals. Take the recent fuel subsidy probes, as an example. The Chairman of the ad hoc committee alleged some overtures. In the actual sense this is a case that requires execution, because they are economic saboteurs, if they are found guilty. In China, it doesn’t happen like that. It’s all about the people. When people are willing to stop corruption, it will stop.

With the glooming picture you have painted, is it possible for the new IGP to surmount this internal challenge and then nip Boko Haram challenges in the bud?

It’s truly a daunting task.  For instance, about this Boko Haram, we need to know who are they and how they evolved. You cannot prescribe medicine without genuinely knowing the background of the sickness. I think (Boko Haram) is the product of unemployment, idleness, injustice, avarice, greed and what have you, because a large number of Nigerians have no visible means of living, yet there are individuals living ostentatious lifestyles. What happened is that, all succeeding governments in Nigeria have paid lip service to unemployment because they don’t have the right people to tell them the truth, and they are not willing to listen to it.

The Acting IGP is talking tough, to rid the service of corruption at road blocks, money-for- bail and all that.  Do you see him succeeding under the current atmosphere?

Well, it’s true that corruption has bedeviled the service and I agree with you that, as a watchdog, police institutions shouldn’t have indulged in corrupt practices. But if you look at it holistically, corruption is everywhere now in Nigeria. The policeman who stops you on the street is no worse than you who offered him a bribe.  Why don’t the people know it’s not good to give him bribe? They give bribes everywhere: at various checkpoints and roadblocks because the police have succumbs to it. People committed crimes and get to police cells. The law is very clear that any accused must be taken to court within 24 hours.  If he’s detained at the police station, people should stand on the principle of not influencing the police to get their relatives out of the gulag. You cannot be crooked and still be straight. I have been the chief CID of this nation. Mrs Farida Waziri, Nuhu Ribadu and the likes of Ibrahim Lamorde, who were my juniors by far, knew and worked under me. They can tell you if anyone called to offer bribes to me. But people of weak minds can easily succumb.

So are you saying now that, it’s impossible for the new IGP to realize his tall dream without a drastic change in the attitude of the people?

What I’m telling you is that, it’s not the IGP’s business alone. Nobody can kill corruption until we have all collectively waged war against it. Nobody, whose name can be permutated from A to Z and brought in to become IGP, can kill corruption in the police. It cannot be done without you and me working assiduously towards the containment of corruption in Nigeria.

But looking at the critical nature of the police in maintaining peace and order, don’t you think if he succeeds in getting them cleansed of corruption, the remaining will be easy?

I tell you it’s surmountable, but a war of any kind cannot be fought and won by the general alone. Yes! He brace up, he goes to the battlefield because he is the head, but he cannot fight the war alone. No individual can lead an organization and succeed by himself, no matter his intelligence or level of devotion.  Without collaboration, support and assistance of the generality of the community for which he is doing the exercise he cannot succeed. So the war of corruption will be won and lost, depending on whether Nigerians are interested in ridding the society of it.

In effect, he is bound to face sabotages from within and outside because most of the officers are used to surviving on corruption?

There you are! So you find the system is what is corrupt and if the system is corrupt, how can the negligible part of the system make that drastic change? It’s not possible. The IG is like a drop of water in the ocean. Can you go and identify the molecule of that water? So the problem is every Nigerian is corruption. It’s a gigantic thing because those that are not corrupt are very negligible. All that the police IG has been saying are right, but the IGP alone, cannot succeed without you, me and everybody.  If you go to the police don’t give them money because bail is free. Nobody should give any policeman anything to have his brother or sister freed from the police or prison cell.

With the benefit of hindsight, what advice would you have given to the new IGP to enable him succeed on it?

My advice to him is that the areas he discovers there are flaws he should face them. There should be training and re-training. He should try to also identify some of the useless policemen who are in the system and send them out. He must have a very intelligent way of discovering the bad eggs within the police and weed them out; and he must be able to do it, no matter the amount of pressure from any quota. He should do his very best and tell people that his success or failure largely depends on the cooperation he gets from the people. Nobody should be allowed to cover up for anybody. The essence of punishment is to serve as a deterrent.