A National Security Endangered
Given their backgrounds in the industry, the relationship between Dr Edmund Dakorou as Minister of State for Energy and Mr Funso Kupolokun as the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was always going to be difficult. And so it proved. By 2005, it had become clear that the duo could not work together in harmony and their hostility towards each other had become known not only within the oil and gas sector but also in the media.
Against the background that working at cross-purposes in such a critical sector was detrimental to the goal of his administration, President Olusegun Obasanjo dealt with the problem through his National Security Adviser (NSA), Lt General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau (rtd).
One afternoon, Gusau invited both Dakorou and Kupolokun to his house. First to arrive was Kupolokun and not long after, Dakorou joined. Without wasting time, Gusau asked the duo to the dining table where he served them tea. For about five minutes, Gusau said nothing and the silence was deafening since Dakorou and Kupolokun avoided exchanging any words. After sometime, Gusau turned to Kupolokun and said: “Funsho, the president said I should tell you that you are doing a very good job at NNPC and you should continue.” For another three minutes, Gusau continued to sip his tea before he turned to Dakorou and said, “Edmund, the president said I should tell you that you are doing a very good job in the Ministry of Energy and wants you to continue.”
The interlude that followed made both Dakorou and Kupolokun uncomfortable but Gusau took his time before he finally declared: “Gentlemen, the president said I should tell both of you that if you cannot work together as a team, he will sack you together.”
While Kupolokun and Dakorou did not exactly become friends after the encounter with Gusau, that marked the end of their acrimony, at least in the public space; as they learnt to tolerate one another in the interest of the administration they were both serving. That story becomes instructive against the background of what is currently happening within the nation’s security system where the challenge has been compounded by a fight over turf that is evident at the level of political leadership. Yet, for as long as there is no synergy between these agencies, our collective security as a nation will continues to be endangered. The pertinent questions arising from such a state of affair are: Who takes the lead in times of crises? Who has a global picture of things to ensure that everyone is on the same page? Do they have a shared database to ensure the relevant agencies get the requisite information in real time and act on them?
The manifestations of the dire national security situation can be glimpsed from the violent encounters between farmers and pastoralists in several theatres across the country; the ease with which Boko Haram insurgents invade schools to carry away our female students in large numbers; the rate at which sundry criminal cartels are feeling emboldened as we see in the case of Zamfara State; the intermittent eruptions over religion as well as the perennial settler-indigene sectarian violence. It goes without saying that in environments of fragile peace such as ours, the interlinked nature of security and development is inescapable since the former is a necessary precondition for any socio-economic progress.
Unfortunately, it is the failure of the security and crime detection agencies which accounts for why the military that should ordinarily channel its energy and resources towards protecting our territorial integrity as a nation has had to deploy troops in practically all the 36 states of our country today. What is more disturbing is a situation where senior officials of these critical agencies constitutionally responsible for protecting us would not only be openly trading blames and damaging accusations but would indeed seek to discredit one another in a bid to score cheap advantage.
Although inter-agency frictions have long been apparent under the current dispensation, especially following what transpired in the Senate during the confirmation hearing of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) Acting Chairman, Mr Ibrahim Magu on whom the Directorate of State Security (DSS) wrote a damning report, it is now evident that the trouble in the sector poses a serious national security threat. Yet, President Muhammadu Buhari has shown no willingness to deal with the problem that festers by the day and puts all of us in danger.
Last weekend, there were reports in some online media quoting both the DSS Director General, Mr Lawal Daura and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana M. Monguno (rtd), as trading damaging allegations. Upon enquiry, I discovered the media stories were based on the Senate “Report of the Ad Hoc committee on investigation of the arrest episodes of Tuesday 21st November 2017 among officers of EFCC, NIA and DSSS” simply dated March 2018, a copy of which I obtained yesterday.
Since President Buhari came to power with the promise to restore the economy, fight corruption and tackle general insecurity in the country, it is hard to believe that those who head the agencies expected to deliver on two of those main planks are not only bitter enemies but are fighting openly to subvert one another, and in the process, the system. That is the only conclusion to draw from the Senate report which then explains why the country has practically been reduced to a killing field where entrepreneurs of violence ply their nefarious trade everywhere, almost unchallenged by the state.
The story started on 22nd November, 2017 when the attention of the Senate was drawn to a botched arrest drama involving EFCC officials and operatives of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA) and DSS. Following their investigations, in the course of which the Senators took both oral and written testimonies from all the principal actors, the Senate concluded that the acrimony in the relationship between those manning our security agencies “was noticed from the outset of the investigation, leading the committee to conduct the hearings in camera as well as holding separate meetings with the Security Agencies. This lack of cooperation and cohesion is reflected at a secondary level with the EFCC and the NSA belonging to one group and the NIA and DSS belonging to another group.”
When he appeared before the Senate committee last December, Magu submitted a memorandum and also gave oral testimony. According to the report, the highlights of his submissions were that the EFCC operatives were on a legitimate mission to arrest both Ekpenyong and Oke, for cases bordering on alleged conspiracy, abuse of office, theft and money laundering. But they were obstructed by heavily armed operatives from the two security agencies: DSS and NIA. “Upon arrival at the aforementioned address, the Commission’s Operatives met heavily armed personnel of the DSS numbering about thirty (30) with three (3) operational vehicles. In a bid to carry out our legitimate duty, the operatives approached the DSS personnel at the gate, introduced themselves and requested to see the former Director-General, Mr. Ita E. Ekpenyong. Their response to the operatives was ‘No’. Upon further inquiry and presentation of Warrant of Arrest, they responded as follows: ‘We are under instruction from the Headquarters’. A similar situation, according to Magu, occurred at the residence of Oke whose official residence was also defended by heavily armed NIA officials.
Meanwhile, Daura who also submitted a memorandum and appeared before the committee to give oral evidence contradicted the claims by Magu. He traced the standoff between the agencies to the events that occurred in July 2016, “in the aftermath of the inauguration of the probe Panel set up by the NSA, upon the approval of the President to investigate Defence procurement from 2014 to 2015.”