ANOTHER MONDAY, ANOTHER COLUMN: DONT MISS IT via leadership.ng Our indefatigable democrat as well as a die hard advocate of rule of law Mr Sam Nda-Isaiah wrote: ITS STILL NO TO STATE POLICE: The case for the establishment of state police appears to have gained renewed vigour in the last few weeks. I must admit that some of the points made for state police are quite cogent, and Nigeria would not be the first to have state police or even local government police. Indeed, state and council police have worked very well for other climes. But I think there should be some overriding considerations that are idiosyncratic to Nigeria for now. Yes, I totally agree that, at some point, we should have state police and even local government police but, certainly, not now; and my reasons for that have not changed. The argument that they would be open to abuse and manipulation by state governors may be vitiated by the counter-argument that even the president abuses the Nigerian police – which, of course, is very true – but I’d rather deal with one unruly leader than 36. This is not in any way implying that all the 36 governors would necessarily be unruly or irresponsible, but, as we have seen, a good number of them could be. It has been said that democracy is a journey and not a destination. It’s just that I am not sure our current leaders are serious about starting that very long journey. The rule of law is the plank on which democracy rests. The way Obasanjo behaved in power and the way Jonathan is happily expanding that impunity do not show a nation serious about the rule of law. And once the president or the oga at the very top, as many would like to put it these days, is not serious about the rule of law, then, we cannot even begin the discussion about state police. I will take the example of Rivers State to make a final case about the implausibility of state police at this point of our nation’s history. In the current confrontation between Governor Rotimi Amaechi on one hand and President Jonathan and his dear wife Patience on the other, I am totally and unreservedly on the side of Amaechi, as I think any reasonable person should be. Dame Patience wants to control (less complimentary people would prefer the word “bewitch”) the governor, even though she is a mere permanent secretary in a neighbouring state, and the governor will have none of that. In terms of governance, Amaechi has done far better for his state than Jonathan is attempting to do for the whole of Nigeria. In terms of security, Amaechi did not pretend that people like Ateke Tom whom Jonathan is treating like statesmen are bloody criminals, and he has treated them as such. There was a time Ateke Tom, the resident Rivers State militant with his own private army, ran away from the state because he said “Amaechi will kill me”. If you were going to be stealing oil, Amaechi would not call you an emancipator; you are a thief. And he treated such people as common thieves. In order to deal with the jeopardy of kidnapping, the Rivers State governor once entered into a deal with a former inspector-general of police to allow him send some of the policemen in his domain overseas for training for them to acquire the new skills of handling such crimes more proficiently. He sent the policemen to Israel for training and the deal was that the IG would not post such policemen out of Rivers State for at least three years, and that worked. The IG agreed and, for some time, kidnappers were put out of business in Rivers State. Currently, President Jonathan and Dame Patience are using the Nigerian police against the governor. They have virtually turned the Nigerian police in Rivers State into their personal political thugs. They have posted a certain Mbu Joseph Mbu there as the police commissioner and this Mbu has a set of rules different from that of other police commissioners. The police in Port Harcourt under Mbu’s command routinely prevent the governor, who is the chief security officer of the state, from moving freely in the state. Not long ago, they disallowed him from using one of the roads leading to government house. This same police commissioner also once used his policemen to give cover to four out of the 27 House of Assembly members who were planning to “impeach” the speaker as a prelude to illegally removing Amaechi from office. Amaechi’s police ADC had to physically engage some of these crookish House of Assembly members, beating them black and blue. The ADC is now on the run and has been declared wanted by Jonathan’s police. Meanwhile, those policemen who beat up Amaechi’s supporters are free and probably waiting for promotion for a job well done. Nobody in his right senses would condemn what Amaechi’s ADC did, because he was protecting his boss from the illegal machinations of his enemies. Now, let’s assume that we have state police. The Rivers State-owned police would have been defending Amaechi from Jonathan’s federal police under Mbu’s command and, by now, there would have been an armed struggle. While Mbu’s men would be fighting for Dame Patience and her husband, Amaechi’s police boss, just like his ADC did, would be fighting for Amaechi. That would be the classic definition of war. Amaechi would be right to arm his own police the way he deems fit. And imagine that this happens in most of the G7 states and imagine this happening in most of the 36 states. The truth is that Nigeria is not yet on track to allowing state and even council police to operate. No matter how I support Amaechi in his struggle with the president, I am still happy he doesn’t have state police. If he had, it would have been a different story by now. Until our system makes it impossible for presidents like Goodluck Jonathan to emerge, nobody should be talking about state police. If we try it, conflagration will be too small a word to describe what could happen. EARSHOT Placing A Bet On Jonathan/Stella Is anyone waiting for President Jonathan to sack Stella? That must be a joke. President Jonathan will never sack the aviation minister over this “small” matter. He is only angry with those who leaked the story to the press and he is going to deal with them thoroughly if he ever lays his hands on them. I have been arguing with some friends about this and we have just placed a bet. If Jonathan relieves Stella of her job as we see with more serious presidents around the world, I lose my money. If the president refuses to sack her, I become richer. I wish the bet amount were N255 million as I would need that amount to buy my own bulletproof BMWs that run on aviation fuel. We have up until the end of this year to know the winner, though this is a bet I will be glad to lose. Ladies and gentlemen, corruption has found good luck in Jonathan’s government.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 10:22:42 +0000
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