Security: Can state police do the magic?

The long agitated and advocacy for state Police by Nigeria governors, to complement the Nigeria Police Force, the Military and other security agencies in tackling insecurity in the 36 states of the federation, is gaining momentum with a surging hope of coming to fruition at the skyline.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the governors had on Thursday February 15, 2024 discussed the state police issue with assurance by Mr President of discussing further at the National Executive Council and with synergy with the National Assembly for probable actualization.

The House of Reps had on Tuesday, February 21, 2024 passed the state police bill into second reading at its plenary.

The question is; is state police the panacea for the multi-faceted insecurity bedevilling Nigeria? And can it do the magic of restoring security and peace in the country?

One of Nigeria’s greatest and foremost challenges right from inception is insecurity. A former Head of Military Junta, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, described the situation saying, “Nigeria, my dear country, is not a stranger to crisis, nor is she immune to it. In a profound sense, she can be said to have been created out of crisis, a nation state that will continue to subdue and transcend crises.”

There are many causes of insecurity in Nigeria since independence such as:

REGIONAL RESENTMENT

The blocs that made up Nigeria are engulfed in mutual suspicion and resentment towards one another, orchestrated by the British colonialists’ forceful amalgamation of the country. This has tremendously inflamed profuse insecurity between regions, and often times breed tension, crisis and secession agitation. Then Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, said “Since 1914, the British Government has been trying to make Nigeria into one country, but the Nigerian people themselves are historically different in their backgrounds, in their religious beliefs and customs and do not show themselves any sign of willingness to unite… Nigerian unity is only a British intention for the country.”

On his part, Chief Obafemi Awolowo said, “Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression. There are no ‘Nigerians’ in the same sense as there are ‘English,’ Welsh or ‘French.’ The word ‘Nigerian’ is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do not.”

The resentment and suspicion were hugely responsible for the introduction of Northernization Policy after the introduction of Nigerianization by the Tafawa

Balewa Administration; Operation Wetie - the violent political protests that ensued in Lagos, the Western Region, in October 1965 by virtue of the House of Assembly elections between the Action Group versus Nigeria National Democratic Party, NNDP. The protests metamorphosed into serious crisis where many lives were lost, making the Prime Minister to say “I wish I had the power to stop it.”

The suspicion and resentment led to the Benue 1965-1966 Crisis over the quest for Middle-Belt Region creation and the 1967-1970 Biafra war.

Major Gideon Orka’s April 22, 1990 Coup was informed by regional resentment, hence excising some states of the north from the country. The same resentment led to secession agitation movements such as; Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MOSSOB, led by Ralph Uwazurike, but now overtaken by Independent People of Biafra, IPOB, led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and the Odudua Republic led by Sunday Igboho.

There was also the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, led by Henry Okah who is now in prison in South Africa. MEND claimed planting the October 1, 2010 bombs in Abuja.

It was the same resentment that led to the warning issued to Igbo by some Northern Youth to vacate the North in June 2017.

On several occasions, there were clashes in the Western, Eastern and Northern regions between the Igbo versus the Hausa and Fulani, and the Yoruba versus Hausa and Fulani. This resentment has made most Nigerians vulnerable in regions other than theirs.

RELIGIOUS IDEOLOGY

Religious ideologies and disparities have led to countless lives wasted in the country through ethno-religious crises, particularly between Christians and Muslims. Such crises were witnessed in Plateau, Kano, Kaduna, Taraba and some other states.

These same religious ideologies are making terrific impact on our elections as voting of elective office holders is mostly done on the basis of religion, ethnic and regions and not competence.

The same religious ideology gave rise to the Maitasine, Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province insurgencies. The adherents are ready to kill and be killed for their beliefs.

Nigeria is still battling these insurgencies.

POLITICAL THUGGERY

Some politicians who use thugs to bully opponents and win elections ended up having their thugs constituting nuisance by forming cult groups and terrorising communities, for instance; Sara Suka, Yan Kalari and so on.

Same politicians allegedly secure recruitment for their thugs in the Military, Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps where most of them breach the ethics of their job and perpetrate insecurity instead of stemming it.

UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment is a leading factor in the eluding security in Nigeria. It is hugely responsible for recruitment into insurgency groups, kidnappings and banditry. The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, said “Normally, it starts like criminality, gets to banditry and kidnapping, then terrorism and insurgency. That’s the trend. And it is always so when there is so much unemployment.”

DEMOGRAPHY

Increase in population with very few resources contributes to insecurity such as; land-grabbing and so on. US Charge De Affairs in August 2018 said at Crest Hotel that Nigeria will continue witnessing insecurity and onslaughts if nothing is done to boost the economy. The problem witnessed between the herders and farmers has to do with demography. The routes that the Fulani nomads and their cattle used to tread from the North to the South are no longer there, because houses have been built on them in some places and also tilled and used as farms in others.

The fallow fields speared for grazing are no longer there thus; resulting to herders grazing their animals on people’s farms which

usually results into confrontation and onslaughts.

When communities are sacked, reports always revealed that the herders occupy the communities sacked.

INJUSTICE AND BAD GOVERNANCE

Alleged perceived injustice against ethnic groups and communities has led to insecurity in many fronts. For instance, Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, felt injustice was done to them by the extraction of black gold by oil companies whose oil spill deprived them of farming and fishing and nothing was done to ameliorate their plight. Their agitation led to the deaths of some of their chiefs allegedly carried out by the agitators and the subsequent execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and others by the Abacha-led Junta.

Attacks on pipelines staged by some people in the South-South emanated from alleged injustices done to their communities by the Federal Government of using their resources to develop other parts of the country at the expense of theirs.

Bello Turji Kachalla, bandits’ Kingpin, alleged that he got into banditry to save his kinsmen in the north whom he said were being oppressed and nothing was done by the government to stem that. On several occasions, the Fulani claimed injustice was done to them