Unnecessary furore over IGP
The Presidency said last week that President Muhammadu Buhari queried Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Kpotun Idris for not obeying his directive to move to Benue State to arrest the crisis between farmers and herdsmen. During a visit to Benue State last week, the state’s elders complained to Buhari that the IGP did not obey his order to relocate to the state. The president responded by expressing surprise and shock and he said, “I did not know that IG did not stay in the state.”
There was some confusion as to what actually happened because the police denied that their boss received a query. Last Monday the police provided an indirect response to the presidency when it broadcast a one hour documentary on the Nigeria Television Authority’s [NTA] network service. The documentary was impressive because it gave a blow by blow account of IG Idris’ visit to Benue State, with a promise to air another documentary this weekend. The documentary showed that Idris promptly arrived in Makurdi and held meetings with community leaders including Governor Samuel Ortom. He then paid a visit to the Tor Tiv and had a lengthy exchange with him, after which he left the next day for Nasarawa State.
From the evidence in the documentary, it was wrong to say his leaving for Nasarawa was abandoning his responsibility because the two states are intertwined in this crisis. Thousands of herdsmen had moved into Nasarawa following the enforcement of Benue’s Anti open Grazing Law, and the allegation is that those who attack Benue communities come from Nasarawa State. The documentary showed that the IGP visited refugee camps, political leaders and traditional rulers in Nasarawa State and he was heard appealing to them to maintain the peace.
Soon afterwards, the documentary showed him returning to Benue State where he moved around the troubled Loko and Guma Local government areas, variously by vehicles and by helicopter. Not only did he address several meetings of community leaders and urged them to cooperate with the police to keep the peace, but he was also overheard on camera giving instructions about the deployment of the ten additional units of mobile policemen that he redeployed to the state. This video evidence supplied by the police suggests that the IG substantially complied with the president’s order to go to Benue and strengthen security arrangements.
Serious though the situation in Benue was, we think it was wrong of the Benue elders to expect the IG to permanently relocate to their state. This is because he is heading a force that covers 36 states and FCT, with many units serving abroad. He owes it a duty to all of them to maintain an eye on happenings across the country. The confusion arose due to President Buhari’s tendency to order security chiefs to relocate to trouble spots without clarifying the meaning of relocation. For example, in his inaugural address in 2015 he ordered military service chiefs to relocate to Maiduguri. The service chiefs briefly did so and since then they have been frequent visitors to the North East and the war fronts. From all indications they satisfied Buhari’s expectations and they have certainly made a difference in the war against Boko Haram.
However, the president himself will be hampered in his functions if the service chiefs, including the IGP, are to stay out of Abuja for prolonged periods. In the case of Benue, what was clearly required was for the IG to put in place adequate security measures to stop the incessant killings. By moving ten units of mobile police and leaving behind a Deputy Inspector General, he has succeeded in reducing the killings even though some ugly incidents still occurred.
We therefore believe the brouhaha over the IG disobeying orders was unnecessary. Next time when aggrieved politicians complain against a top security official, we urge the president to tarry awhile and investigate it, rather than accept their word for it.