So who’s in charge of our security?

But even though our governments have forced us to become used to it, living with fear has surged to a new, deadlier level. Now we can no longer hide our fear from even our adolescent children. The saying used to be that our children have no future; but now they don’t even have a present […]

But even though our governments have forced us to become used to it, living with fear has surged to a new, deadlier level. Now we can no longer hide our fear from even our adolescent children. The saying used to be that our children have no future; but now they don’t even have a present to live through because terror is live on TV, in the neighbourhood and on the streets, as symbolized by the countless security checkpoints scattered everywhere.

As if all this is not terrifying enough, there appeared on the scene another reason for even the strongest among us to lose their nerves: T he traditional rivalry among the nation’s security outfits moved from its hushed and speculative realm to the real, ruthless world of the media. Suddenly Nigerians are assailed by daily media briefings and releases from virtually every security organization in the country. But the most notorious in this unusual conduct is the State Security Service (SSS). One of three off-shoots of the disbanded National Security Organization (NSO), the SSS represents the internal wing of Nigeria’s secret police. By tradition, the SSS is to be heard and not seen; its main duty is to provide and analyze intelligence with a view to preserving the nation’s national security. So when this essentially secret police started dishing out press statements and holding press conferences at a rate faster than even that of a political party, not only security experts but even laymen who were not used to seeing the SSS in such gauzy tone started becoming worried.

Before then, the Nigerian military, against its will, has been dragged into the protracted sectarian violence in Plateau state; it too is being forced into conducting more than its fair share of media activity to save its sagging image. While this anomaly is unfolding, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), whose responsibility it is to maintain law and order, prosecute offenders, interact freely with the civil society and generally be the visible arm of the nation’s security network, are, deliberately or otherwise pushed to the background. The NPF appears occasionally to counter allegations or in response to media enquiries; it is safe to say that the Nigerian public is more aware of who is Mary Ogar (the SSS spokesperson) than of DCP Olusola Omore (the NPF spokesperson). This is unprecedented and it is happening at the expense of national security.

As the confusion grows, so do the activities of those that benefit from it; the kidnappings, bombings, murders and robberies continue to literally ‘thumb their nose’ at authorities, daring the government, challenging it to a “Catch me if you can” sort of game. And the bad guys are winning on all fronts; they have virtually succeeded in imposing a near-state of emergency on the federal capital, Abuja. It is now a city of road blocks, check points, detours and one-ways. Life for residents and visitors has never been more miserable.

And despite assurances to the contrary by no less a person than the president, the security agencies continue on their divergent ways. To remove any lingering doubts about its determination to maintain its unusual and unarguably unhealthy drive for public attention, the SSS last Thursday took another dangerous step that would bring it closer to collusion not only with other agencies but possibly with the constitution of the federal republic. The agency attempted to arraign six Boko Haram suspects at a federal High Court in Abuja. What section of the Nigerian constitution allows the SSS to prosecute offenders the agency did not say; but the Judge handling the case, Justice Bilkisu Bello Aliyu was clearly unimpressed by the bungling of the SSS prosecutor, one Thompson Olatigbe who is a deputy director at the federal ministry of justice. Floundering in unfamiliar waters, the SSS prosecutor had brought the accused persons to court without serving them the charges against them! Pissed off, Justice Aliyu had ordered them to go back and get their acts together.

There was also the curious case of a rabble rouser that goes by the name Ali Tishau whose capture, detention and subsequent release has caused so much finger pointing between the NPF, the SSS and the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the military equivalent of the SSS. In the end it was, wonder of wonders, the DIA that was left carrying the can, as it tries to explain how it took Tishau away from the police and then subsequently released him without recourse to the NPF. Tishau by the way has been disowned by Boko Haram, so in all probability whatever information he is claiming to have might well be a load of self-serving rubbish.

Unfortunately even the president doesn’t seem to appreciate just how deeply fractured our entire security system is; one would have offered a suggestion or two to the president for whatever it is worth, but the president has declared flatly that he is not a General and does not wish to behave like one.

Now you see the Nigerian dilemma; we have a leader who holds the title of Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but who goes to Church and declared that he is not and should not be expected to behave as a General. I wish the president would read Femi Adesina’s comment  on the back page of The Sun published last Friday; then he would know that every General, Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar has two sides and it is the positive attributes of those entities we want him to copy. Then again, this is not the first time that Mr. Jonathan will shock the nation with his classic misunderstanding of the obvious.

In the aftermath of the Eid violence which re-erupted in Jos during Sallah celebrations at the end of August, the president announced that he had directed the military to take over the security of Plateau state. He further explained at the time that he had directed the chief of defense staff to be in charge. I had to scratch my head severely and ask a few knowledgeable colleagues to tell me who had been in charge of the security in Plateau state in the last 12 months? The only thing new in what the president said was that he was inadvertently confessing that he had lost confidence one General and wished to try another.

Whatever be the disposition of the president, he has to quickly address the grave security challenges that the nation is facing; his National Security Adviser, who is said to be a very powerful figure in the government has not been impressive at all, to put it mildly. The office of the NSA coordinates the entire security operations of the nation; as it is, this is where government’s failure is most pronounced. Quite clearly the current strategy, if there is one, has failed; the thing to do is to examine where the weak link is in his security team and plug it before it sinks the ship. Lion or Chameleon, this is a task that must be done urgently. I don’t think anybody needs to be a lion to know exactly where their roof is leaking.