Insecurity: ‘It’s time to modernise Nigeria Police’
Two years after, insecurity is still with us. Why is it that we’ve been unable to halt the attacks? I think this goes to confirm what some of us who are scholars have been saying that the Boko Haram crisis goes beyond religion. I think we should understand that terrorism is terrorism, no matter those […]
Two years after, insecurity is still with us. Why is it that we’ve been unable to halt the attacks?
I think this goes to confirm what some of us who are scholars have been saying that the Boko Haram crisis goes beyond religion. I think we should understand that terrorism is terrorism, no matter those attacked. It’s a crime against the nation. Unfortunately security agents have not engaged researchers to find out who these people are. Before this Boko Haram started I had always warned against terrorists attacks in the country. Since the time of Maitatsine, the group had existed, but nobody tried to find out about them. The idea now is that it’s because of Jonathan government. But I think it goes beyond this.
This group has been with us for long, but it’s unfortunate that nobody has done anything to find out about them. Now, they are being labeled by international security networks as terrorists. You can see that they even went as far as attacking the Shehu of Borno. These are the kind of issues that our security agencies must study, do a vivid study and vivid intelligence report on. They must know who are these people, what they stood for.
Ambassador Galtimari report said it was caused by politicians. Do you think it is political groups that are still responsible for this?
If you will recall, before the Galtimari report, when you interviewed me in Scotland, I told you these things were politically-motivated, but a lot of people have infiltrated these groups. The religious fundamentalism has gone to North Africa, flown into countries around the Sahel region, even at that point in time went into Mali, but have now flown into Nigeria and our politicians fund and encouraged them. Unfortunately, too, Nigerian borders are so open. Anything just enters into the country from anywhere. When some of the crises in North Africa began to end, they came in here to help their associates, whereas the Nigerian politically-motivated crises then did not have any terrorist agenda. But over time, because of the lapses on the part of security agencies, these guys penetrated and now we have a big problem in our hands. If you look at it, at some point, it looks as if these things have been slowed down, but the problem now is that those of them with religious agenda will be very difficult to defeat because they are fighting for an agenda. Those agenda and vision motivate them and this is a big problem to our security agencies.
If you look at the situation in northern Mali, you’ll agree that they are succeeding. Do you think they can over run northern Nigeria?
No, it’s not going to be possible. It’s going to be difficult for them because even in the northern region where their activities are more pronounced, not everybody seems to buy their ideas and vision. In the northern part of Nigeria, we have very a vast group of people with vast religious thoughts. So, even within the Muslim Ummah, they do not agree with their kind of thought, so it won’t be an easy thing for them to do. It’s not going to be like Mali.
When experts talk about this terrorists thing they say is police and Army affairs but the police have not lived up to expectation. What do you think is responsible for this?
There are lots of things responsible for this. Of all the top security agencies in Nigeria, the police have been more weakened internally and externally by corruption, operational facilities within. A lot of things have happened within the police force which has made it so weakened. It makes it difficult for other security agencies to share information with the police for fear that there might be corrupt people within the police who may divulge such information. Truly, the police alone cannot fight terrorism. The problem we have today can be handled by the SSS, NIA, and the Police and supported by the military. But what we have is that the military is at the forefront of the effort to fight terrorism. The JTF is dealing with terrorists. But there is nothing like declaring war on terrorism. You only police terrorism, but because of the internal weaknesses of the Nigerian police, other security agencies have taken up that assignment. That is why I think what the present Inspector-General of Police is doing might about changes.
What is the new IG doing?
Well, there are things he has put in place, but I don’t know if he can carry them through. I see him as somebody who carries fire in his tummy. I don’t know if he can spit that fire or has the political will to spit the fire, but he is bringing about some reforms in the police force which is very good. At least, for the first time, he is taking some steps to remove the road blocks. It’s not as if road blocks are bad, but it’s one of the means by which the police is being corrupted. I think he wants to do some job, I hope they will give him the opportunity to do it and improve the efficiency and integrity of the police force. However, my fear is that the police are seriously underfunded. I don’t know how he will get the funds to carry out these reforms. That is why I asked if the new IG will be able to spit the fire he appears to carry in his tummy. Otherwise, it will be difficult for him to carry out his reforms. If this is not done, it will be difficult to achieve his ideas of modern policing.
Do you think Boko Haram is truly faceless?
It’s always funny to me when our people in authority here talk about it as a faceless group. They are faceless because they are a terrorist group. Nobody is going to come out and say I’m a Boko-Haram member. It’s left for security agencies to unmask them. There is nowhere in the world where they came out to say ‘here we are’. They just want their agenda executed. I think some people are misleading our president when they tell him the terrorists are faceless, so they must wait until they come out because no terrorist group will ever come out. It’s your duty as government, security agencies to unmask them through intelligence networks. All the intelligence agencies should be doing a lot of work now, instead of just talking and allowing the terrorists to know what they are planning, because the group also has its own intelligence network.
So, what should be the way forward?
I think Nigeria should have a counter-terrorist unit to draw the master plan on how to deal with insurgency from terrorists groups. Instead of studying the American counter-terrorism model, we should look around the world and study other models. I think we should be studying issues in Europe and the EU in general because of the intelligence strategies they have put in place to prevent and counter terrorism. I think the Nigerian community is making a mistake by putting the police aside because they see the force as corrupt and all that, but it’s the Nigerian state that brought the police to its knees today. If the new IG could summon the political will to address the internal decay in the police force it will not only be made functional, it will become a police force that people can trust again.