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n the last few days, the Nigerian Inspector General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba has been cautioning the public about the way and manner to conduct themselves before, during and immediately after the elections. At some point he handed an order directing Nigerians to stay away from the polling booths after casting their votes. Although several well-meaning Nigerians from all political persuasions have spoken against his powers to issue such sweeping directive, the IGP has vowed to deal decisively with anyone found attempting to cause mayhem around the vicinity of the polling station. He gave assurances of the ability and capacity of the Nigerian police under his leadership to prevent any form of violence and secure the votes in line with the laws of the land. Let me state upfront that my view is that voters should remain peacefully around the vicinity until their votes are counted and results announced.
While one does not need to question the ability and capacity of our security agencies to perform their functions, I worry about whether the Nigerian public trust our police well enough to perform such an important function with the requisite neutrality and professionalism. Public perception is critical to confidence building, public thrust and legitimacy. Events in the past few months in many states across the federation. We know that the Nigerian Police is a federal agency but they were never created to protect the federal government and the ruling party alone. In many cases during the campaigns, there have been reports of the police denying one political party permission to hold their rallies while they escort another one to their rallies. Many politicians and their supporters have been killed in some states and the police did not show any willingness to investigate the killings or protect people from future occurrences. In a state like Rivers State, criminals are on rampage murdering their opponents allegedly under the full glare or even tacit support of the police. In the past we have heard top police officials get involved in partisan exchanges with politicians in the media. Such behaviour, regardless of who it benefits, continues to erode the confidence of the public in the Nigerian police and can be an underlying factor for resort to self-help at a time like this.
Let me come out clearly. The Nigerian police cannot be trusted with our votes. They have no antecedent to suggest that they will be public spirited and neutral during the elections. If the Inspector General is pretending not to know, let me use this medium to call his attention to the fact. Even the ruling party that the police allegedly tilts to, do not trust them as well. If they do, the former Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Ahmodu Alli and a chieftain, Dr Saminu Turaki could not have openly directed voters not to take the risk of leaving the polling units after voting and relying on the police to secure their votes. Such positions canvassed by these prominent party men should worry the IGP and make him get a clearer picture about how the institution he heads is being perceived and who he is actually working for.
Although the elections are a few days away, the level of distrust in the Nigerian police should make the IGP and senior members of the police force to be sober. The elections on the 28th March and 11th April yet offer them another opportunity to show that they can be on the side of ordinary Nigerians. It is called democratic policing. It is a new era of cordiality in policing that is now spreading in other countries. It has been practiced in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Panama, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kosovo. It is defined as “adherence to international principles of human rights”. Other elements of democratic policing are “conformity of actions to law; …accountability to external authority based on the capacity to collect and the willingness to publicize information about operational activities; and responsiveness to the needs of ordinary citizens”. I must say that democratic policing is not a strategy of policing, or an instrument for realizing the objectives of the police force. It is a paradigm shift that will make our police look good.
There are those who think about democracy with the fixated mind-set of holding regular elections. I beg to differ. Democracy is much more. We cannot talk about true democracy until such elections become routine and a true reflection of the popular will of the people. We must therefore differentiate a country that is undergoing democratization through periodic elections from a democratic country where people’s voice and accountability of leadership matter.
My argument will be that Nigeria is only democratizing – periodic elections and maintaining the paraphernalia of a democratic system – deliberative legislative houses and ministerial responsibility are necessary but not sufficient for democracy to flourish. We can make additional progress if the society and key institutions like the police acquire pro-democratic values. In many ways vital institutions like the police offer a mirror image of our society. Selfish, corrupt, too divided and too disillusioned to gather together around a common purpose. These are the words that best describe Nigerian society at the moment. With the significant bleeding of the treasury by the officials and officers of the democratic state, the Nigerian society has become more sharply hierarchical and authoritarian.
It is possible that the IGP does not know the true state of affairs in the Nigerian Police or he is pretending to hide under the cloak of neutrality to implement a pre-conceived agenda. The responses from Nigerians across party lines should suggest how much police is loathed and offer the IGP an opportunity to resume the necessary reforms. There is clear danger to our democracy if the security agencies are either partisan or perceived to be so. The suspicion goes far beyond the elections. Typically, governments and citizens are concerned whether their police agencies are using their powers to combat and prevent crime and that they do so respectfully and within the law. They expect a police that has legitimacy and whose officers must emphasize neutrality, non-partisanship and professionalism in their conduct. That is a far cry from where the Nigerian police is at the moment. People are literally dying daily in Rivers State and other states from electoral violence with the police looking elsewhere unperturbed. Innocent people are arbitrarily arrested and detained for expressing contrary political views. What a shame. It only goes to show that the police is for a particular political party and not others.
What does the IGP mean by saying officers should be loyal only to the federal government? How low can he go? If the police boss is serious, he should be facing the rot in his force and working to regain lost legitimacy before pontificating about the elections. He simply comes across as a grossly incompetent person. In conclusion whether the police is present at the booth or not, it makes no difference. My fear is that they should not end up igniting the same electoral violence he is pretending to prevent. Nigerians will be very reluctant to trust IGP and his men with our votes. Never.
Uche Igwe wrote from Department of Politics, University of Sussex. You can reach him on ucheigwe@gmail.com
