Drama as Obasanjo Lampoons Police for Breach of Protocol

There was mild drama yesterday at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, when a breach of protocol by the police kept former President Olusegun Obasanjo waiting for over an hour. The event, a bi-annual Special Training and Capacity Development Seminar for police officers, was billed to start at 10.30am but did not start till 11.52 a.m. At this point, the police helicopter from the air wing had already been sent to Ogun State to ferry the former president to the venue of the event, where he was billed to be the special guest of honour. After he had landed at the sports stadium at Onikan, he was ferried to the venue in a motorcade for the programme organised by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 2, Kayode Aderanti. However, when he got to the venue of the event, he was made to wait for an hour at the hotel lounge for the arrival of the Inspector General of Police, Idris Ibrahim. When he got tired of waiting, he marched straight into the event hall and climbed the podium when the national anthem was being played by the police band. Admitting that he was breaking protocol by speaking at that point, the former president chided the police for keeping him waiting. He informed the gathering that he had to return to Ogun State immediately for an event organised in his honour, which he had left midway to attend the police event. In his speech, the former president charged the police to ensure that its facilitators are in touch with new developments in policing. Pointing at the former Inspector of Police, Musiliu Smith (rtd), who was seated in the audience and worked under him, he expressed hope that the police would not appoint him as one of the facilitators for the training. Speaking on the initiative, Obasanjo said there was no substitute for training, urging the police to be in tune with the practices of their peers in other parts of the world. According to him, all human institutions need constant appraisal, regeneration, introspection and training but by people who are up to date with what is done in other countries. He said: “The police must be aware and in touch with new developments in other parts of the world. I can see my former IG, Musiliu Smith. “Smith is completely out of date to give a lecture on police duty. He has experience to share with you, but not on modern way of doing things. “I don’t even know how digital he is. I am sure we are on the same level when it comes to digitalisation.” Immediately after his five minutes talk, he dropped the bombshell in the hall expressing his displeasure over the way he was kept waiting, before departing with a flurry of security aides. He said: “Next time, before you call me for your event, please be ready.” Notwithstanding the way he was shabbily treated, he graciously agreed to take a group photograph with the course participants before he was whisked away. A police officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity said: “It was a serious mess. The police officers in charge failed in communication. Ordinarily, there should have been communication between the air wing and the ground staff. “Because there was no such thing, they flew in the former president instead of waiting for the IG to leave Abuja first. We only hope he truly forgives us for the breach in protocol.” Meanwhile, the IG who finally arrived at 12.19 p.m., 10 minutes after Obasanjo’s departure, directed the AIG Zone 2 to extend his regards and apologies to the former president. In his speech, the IG said the police needed to be a step ahead of criminals, adding that it could only be achieved through training and retraining as the reason for training is to improve efficiency and performance. Afterwards, in an interview with journalists, he addressed the issue of the arrests of members of the Nigerian Peace Corps. Idris said the recent joint raid of the controversial Peace Corps, by the police, Department of State Service (DSS) and the military, was to show that Nigeria is not a lawless country. He said all the arrested members from Wednesday’s and past raids in Niger, Kwara and Abuja, would be charged to court soon. He said: “Nigeria is not a lawless country. There are processes and procedures. Therefore, somebody cannot jump up and start a security outfit. “A group cannot just by having numbers call a group of people together and get them to pay N50,000 to join. We raided and arrested them in Kwara, Niger and Abuja when they were carrying out illegal military training.”