As usual, on Tuesday, May 12, I was anxious to listen to Channels Television’s 10pm news broadcast. This segment of the day’s news bulletin has been my favourite since the debut of the TV station many years ago. But on this particular day, I was much more eager to listen to the news because of the council of state’s meeting, the last to be presided over by the outgoing president, Goodluck Jonathan, which took place at the presidential villa earlier in the day. I knew there may be one or two important news emanating from that meeting. Besides, the newspapers had insinuated that Solomon Arase, who until that day was in acting capacity as the nation’s Inspector General of Police, could be made a substantive IG at that meeting.
The news that night opened with some video footage from the Council of State meeting. In the group photograph which was featured at the tail end of the report, nine surviving former Heads of State – Generals Yakubu Gowon, Ibrahim Babaginda, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo, Muhammadu Buhari, Chief Ernest Shonekan and Alhaji Shehu Shagari – were featured. Of the lot, only three of them, including Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, are civilians. The rest are military rulers. Some of them have come back as civilian presidents – Obasanjo and Buhari, who will be taking over the reins of government pretty soon.
The highlight of the day’s news was the confirmation of the appointment of Solomon Arase as substantive IG after serving in acting capacity for less than one month. As the news scroll had it that day, it was “a record confirmation within one month”. It was in the process of confirming Arase that the president gave a little insight into the real reason why Suleiman Abba was summarily eased out of office last month after nine months in the saddle as IG. According to reports, Abba was eased out because of “noticeable indiscipline in the rank and file of the police under his command”. Though the report did not expatiate on what was termed indiscipline, the reason given by the government tallies with insinuations and speculations that greeted Abba’s sudden removal. The speculation then was that it might not be unconnected with the fall-out of the 2015 general elections particularly the presidential election in which the incumbent president was defeated. Since that defeat, many people in sensitive positions at the federal level have been sent packing. It is like a wounded tiger has come to town and has been baring its claws ever since.
Like I pointed out in my column dated April 29, 2015, titled: “Abba: A Sacrificial Lamb”, the former IG had to be sacrificed for not superintending over a shambolic election which was what his paymasters had anticipated. We are all aware of the shenanigans that took place in Rivers State in the governorship election. That issue will soon become a subject of litigation. We are aware of the role played by some very important people in that election, from the INEC commissioner in the state to an empress who relocated to the state many weeks before the election. And of course, the issue of the deployment of senior police officers to monitor the state’s election and the counter-order or marching order issued to the officers. How the media blew the surreptitious moves open and the hullabaloo that followed in high quarters when all the secret maneuvers leaked to the public.
Then I remember that James F. Entwistle, the American Ambassador to Nigeria, visited the police headquarters in Abuja to give the “boys” a pat on the back for a job well done. The visit, which was aired on Channels TV’s 10p.m news on Monday, April 20, 2015, showed the footage of Abba, responding to all the good things the ambassador said on the police performance during the just concluded 2015 general elections. Abba said: “The elections were peaceful because my men went to the field and complied with instructions – be professional, don’t support any party and don’t be partisan in any way” According to him, “that was exactly what they did and this is responsible for the relative peace the country is now enjoying”. That sounds like a statement from a tough cop who knows his onions. As it is customary, Channels TV repeated the footage in subsequent news bulletins on that day, all through the night. Also, at 7:15 am the following day, shortly before the newspapers’ review, that is, during its News Track, the footage, once again, came on on the tv station.
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‘It is on record that Abba presided over the most peaceful elections in Nigeria’s history. He probably read the mood of the nation correctly and knew that Nigerians will not take kindly to any attempt to rig the last elections’
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Either by sheer telepathy or something else, when the footage came up again that morning, something in me told me that some people, somewhere, might interpret Abba’s innocent words to be an affront especially given the prevailing mood in high places after the ruling party was beaten silly in the elections. In any case, what Abba said on Channels TV was what really happened. It was a departure from previous elections when policemen will operate side-by-side or hand-in-hand with political thugs, taking directives from unscrupulous political godfathers, snatching ballot boxes, simulating arrests like was witnessed during the last governorship elections in Ekiti State and later, Osun State, including some other stupid things very unbecoming of law enforcement officers. In the last elections, nothing of such happened. If it happened at all, it was insignificant and too infinitesimal to raise eye-brows. That was why the Americans gave the police a pat on the back for a job well done as well as promising to assist the agency in strengthening their operational capabilities through training and all that.
Unfortunately, back at home, what did Abba get? Less than 24 hours after the visit of the American Ambassador and his team, Abba got the boot. The whole nation was jolted. I am sure the Americans were, too. Of course, Nigerians are no fools. They can read between the lines. Talk of the Yoruba proverb: “Aje ke lana, omo ku loni….,” meaning, “The witches cried last night and today, a child in the neigbourhood drops dead….”. Now, the removal of Abba is being couched in a deceitful garb. Speaking to newsmen last week on why Abba was removed, Mike Okiro, Chairman, Police Service Commission, said; “Going by the explanation President Jonathan gave when one of the governors raised the question, the president took the action because of the gross indiscipline he noticed among the rank and file under his watch”. Hey, here we go again. Go tell that to the marines!
It is on record that Abba presided over the most peaceful elections in Nigeria’s history. He probably read the mood of the nation correctly and knew that Nigerians will not take kindly to any attempt to rig the last elections. In fact, rigging an election such as the last one, could probably have thrown the country into a great conflagration the magnitude of which could lead to a major catastrophe. But thank God, the whole elections ended conclusively. Abba too, deserves praise. Not condemnation. Not blackmail. At any rate, whatever is said about Abba now does not matter. Nigeria has moved on.
And talking about indiscipline in the police, it is an affliction of epidemic proportion. Over the years, the activities of the bad elements, have continued to overshadow the good intentions of some of the finest officers in the system. Already, Arase said that he has let loose some units of mad dogs to go after the corrupt elements. Indeed, it looks like an impossible task. That department is damn rotten. Therefore, retrieving it from the abyss into which it has sunk, requires a major surgical operation. Not grandstanding. Not any quick-fix approach. God help Nigeria, help Arase.
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