Season of slapping

The culture of indiscipline and impunity in this country’s paramilitary services came to the fore recently with two reported cases of unwarranted and unprovoked assault by their men. In the first instance, Mr. Idah Odeh, an orderly to the Comptroller General of Prisons (CGP) Mr. Peter Ezenwa Ekpendu, slapped a female federal lawmaker, Onyemaechi Mrakpor […]

The culture of indiscipline and impunity in this country’s paramilitary services came to the fore recently with two reported cases of unwarranted and unprovoked assault by their men. In the first instance, Mr. Idah Odeh, an orderly to the Comptroller General of Prisons (CGP) Mr. Peter Ezenwa Ekpendu, slapped a female federal lawmaker, Onyemaechi Mrakpor right inside the National Assembly Complex and in the presence of his boss, the CGP. Odeh slapped Mrakpor because she did not give way to the convoy of the CGP, who was leaving the National Assembly Complex after testifying before a committee.  The lawmaker was overtaking the CGP’s convoy when his aides flagged her down. As she wound down the glass to find out what was the matter, Odeh gave her a dirty slap.
The second instance occurred at the Nigeria Immigration Service Training School in Kano. Mrs. Blessing Bulus, a trainee at the school but also the third wife of Mr. Martins Kure Abeshi, Comptroller General of Immigration Service (CGIS), slapped Deputy Superintendent Hassan Mustapha Saleh inside the school premises. According to reports, the incident occurred when Saleh, an instructor in the school, reprimanded Blessing for idling away on a staircase while her fellow trainees were busy with their studies. Saleh shouted instructions to her from afar to return to her class. She didn’t comply and when the instructor came close, she rained insults at Hassan before slapping him five times.
Even before this cantankerous trainee slapped her instructor, reports had it that Blessing had been a law unto herself in the school and had been causing trouble, with or without the knowledge of her husband. Blessing reportedly had an issue with the Chief Inspector of the school and dean of discipline Mr. Dalhatu Gwarzo, during which she insulted the superior officer and had him summoned to Abuja, where he was reprimanded by the CGIS.
These two incidents together show that discipline and decorum are still seriously lacking in the paramilitary services and the old culture of impunity is very much around. At least with respect to the first case, CGP quickly denounced the action of his orderly who slapped Mrakpor, tendered an apology to the House Committee on Interior and declared that the prisons officer was on his own in the matter. CGIS Abeshi however did no such thing, at least not publicly. From the beginning he showed poor judgment by allowing his third wife to be recruited as an immigration officer when he is the Comptroller General. He ought to know that disciplinary issues could arise if she elevates her position as the CGIS’ wife above her rank in the service.
The least the CGIS should do in the circumstances is to end his wife’s career in the service and find for her a new calling.  If at trainee level Blessing Abeshi can be so unruly as to slap an instructor, it is easy to imagine the danger associated with allowing her to continue to serve as an Immigration officer. She should have no place in the Nigeria Immigration Service, now or later.
The first incident exposes a shortcoming in the training curriculum of the Nigeria Prison Service. The CGP’s overzealous aide could not appreciate the difference between the National Assembly Complex and the prison environment with which he is more familiar. Otherwise he should have known that unlike a prison, the National Assembly is a free-wheeling place which is not given to regimentation and exaggerated right of way for prison superintendents.
These two incidents that came to light, mostly because of the prominence of the victims, are but tips of the slapping iceberg in our paramilitary services. Their bosses must take urgent steps to reorient their men and women from slapping other citizens for the most frivolous reasons. One day, these men could precipitate a breakdown of law and order with their slapping habits.