Task force of doubtful job description

But it was on technicality; the Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Elvis Chukwu, ruled that the Task Force was not given a ‘fair hearing” before it was disbanded by the NCS, and did not entertain the substantive plea on whether the organisation was illegal because, among other issues, it was not […]

But it was on technicality; the Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Elvis Chukwu, ruled that the Task Force was not given a ‘fair hearing” before it was disbanded by the NCS, and did not entertain the substantive plea on whether the organisation was illegal because, among other issues, it was not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and therefore should be considered disbanded.
There is another legal challenging, still pending, in which the Edo State director of the agency asserts that his suspension by his superior officers was a move at ethnic cleansing in the organisation’s top ranks.
Its Director General, Mr Osita Okereke, was remanded last year in Kuje Prison in the Federal Capital Territory on the orders of a judge over a six-count charge of impersonation, forgery and obtaining by false pretence brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Mr Okereke was in the news again last week making prodigious claims regarding the number of owners of private jets in the country that he alleged used their aircraft to import large caches of arms and ammunitions.
While Mr Okereke was copious in making the allegations, he was distressingly thin on facts.
Still, given the work that the organisation is supposed to be doing, his statements are worth a closer examination, even further investigation.
The thrust of Mr Okereke’s submission last week, which he made at a very unusual and controversial ceremony, was that the Task Force has a dossier on many owners of private jets that he said are known to be involved in gunrunning.
Indeed, Mr Okereke asserted that among the suspects are state governors and other ‘big Nigerians who are crazy about private jets, are using the privilege to distribute arms to hoodlums ahead of the 2015 elections’.
‘These people purchase arms and land in their states without security checks on them because they are governors. There are lots of arms flown into many states by private jets’, Mr Okereke added. The political motivation for the Task Force’s operation is implicit in Mr Okereke’s statements.
There certainly are widespread concerns about the proliferation of small arms in Nigeria and in the West Africa region.
With security challenges presented by insurgency in the North East of the country, and kidnapping for ransom in the south, and the acrimonious political divisions that are emerging as the country heads to the elections that Mr Okereke referred to, it would amount to sitting on a keg of gunpowder if any movement of illegal arms is not checked and swiftly dealt with.
That is why even the Presidential Committee appointed to initiate dialogue with leaders of the insurgency in the North East has the checking of the proliferation of arms as part of its terms of reference.
The only concession to any potential public concern for the frightening picture that Mr Okereke presented was his pledge that the Task Force would publish ‘the identities of such states because of the security implication’.
The other aspect in the debate that could render Mr Okereke’s motive suspect is the fact he made his statements at the public investiture of Mr Government Ekpemukpolo, also known as Tom Ateke, and whose nom de guerre is Tompolo. Mr ateke   part of the bloody campaign that pitched armed militants in the Niger delta against the authority of the Federal Government.
Okereke named Tom Ateke as the National Grand Patron of the Task Force; he made his remarks at the ceremony at Okrika, in Rivers State.
If the Task Force has credible information about arms proliferation, Mr Okereke should know where hand in the evidence, and not make generalisations that only help to increase fear and uncertainty.