Nigeria, on Tuesday, was treated to a spectre of national ignominy that characterised nothing but an era that many a Nigerian would rather remained in the past- where it naturally belongs. It was at the Rivers State House of Assembly as five members allegedly loyal to the Felix Obuah-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state unleashed terror on the state legislature, attacked the deputy governor, Tele Ikuru; the Speaker, Otelemaba Dan Amachree and the House Leader, Hon. Chidi Lloyd, with thugs under the “helpless” watch of the police.
Not surprising though, the lead actor here was Hon. Evans Bapakaye Bipi, who found the occasion of the presentation of the amendment to the 2013 Appropriation Budget by Ikuru, ideal to carry out a clearly planned but failed assignment.
Ikuru, according to reports, had finished presenting the budget
amendments to the Assembly on behalf of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi when Bipi struck and attacked him with thugs who chanted war songs to the Assembly Complex along Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, at about 12.26pm Tuesday afternoon.
Before the arrival of the five lawmakers, about 50 riot policemen had been reportedly stationed to provide security. But when Bipi came with his thugs, he was initially prevented by the policemen from accessing the premises before he pulled his full weight.
An account quoted an Assembly source as saying that a few minutes after the thugs were stopped by the police, leader of the police team received a call (perhaps, from the police IG or Mrs. Jonathan since she now controls the Rivers police formation) and soon after this, the thugs were allowed in. The Deputy Governor’s official car was badly damaged while other cars on the convoy also sustained some degree of damage. Members of his entourage were, of course, not spared.
While the attack on Ikuru was rated as lucky in several of the reports, the speaker and the leader were not as lucky. They got the beating of their lives and relished in the flow of their own blood. And so were other members of the Assembly. No thanks to Bipi and the powers behind him.
Crude and unschooled, that Ikuru found his way into the legislature is a fault of the system, much as his emergence is subject to lucid explanation. Even then, it should worry any rational mind that a legislature would house his like. As a Cadet-in-training at the Police Academy in Kano, Bipi allegedly ran into trouble following a petition against him by those who accused him of inappropriate behaviour.
He would later find a natural breeding ground for his ilk when he joined politics. And to facilitate his election into the Assembly, a fully armed unit of Police Mobile Force was allegedly mandated in 2011 “from the top” to Okrika, where he was returned as the winner of that election. He eventually 'won' with one vote, defeating the incumbent who was believed to have had the Governor's support and sympathy.
However instructive is the fact that the sad tales from Rivers, the home state of the First Lady and President Goodluck Jonathan’s in-laws are coming at a time the nation is reminded of the 10 years of the infamy that took place in Anambra State when a former governor, now Senator Chris Ngige, was abducted by a cabal led by Chris Uba and believed to have had the backing of Abuja, the seat of power. It was the first time that such a travesty of what is called Nigeria’s brand of democracy would be played up so brazenly. And yet, the perpetrators went scot-free.
Beyond the ongoing theatrics and mockery in the small Rivers State is the need to ponder the larger implication of the aberration for the polity in general.
Looking back at the development in Egypt and the state of insecurity in Nigeria, it is clear that the nation is sitting on a keg of gunpowder. The challenge is enormous and therefore, blustering petty and ethnic politics would further destroy the fibre of the already anemic security architecture of the country.
Clearly, there is a challenge and it is majorly one of poverty insecurity complex, which unfortunately, has also been aggravated by misguided political developments in the country. Already, five strands of Boko Haram have been identified- religious, social, ethnic, political and economic.
While the religious Boko Haram seems to get the most attention because of its ideological leaning, the one believed to be truly devastating is the economic strand of the anti-social group because, like Governor Fayemi of Ekiti said recently, “It is when people feel that they have nothing to lose that some of these things manifest” with scant regard to consequences.
Sadly, this situation has birthed forth a niggling dimension and which is is the increasing involvement of the military in civilian affairs in the country. The implication of involving the military in civilian matters at the slightest provocation is grave and worrisome because a template has been laid. But it does seem the reality is lost on the leadership. Not only have the police been deliberately relegated to “domestic chores” by the Very Very Important Personality (VVIP), its leadership also seems cozy with such demeaning uses.
However, by constantly calling in the military to all cases including those that should have been handed the civil defence corps, a subliminal message is being sent to the military that the civilian leadership is no longer in charge and that is why they are being run to for rescue. And if the word rescue is further defined in an elastic manner by the military, then Egypt is nearer home, after all, the template is ready-made.
Take for instance, it is a statement of fact that there is heavy presence of soldiers in at least 32 states of the federation and yet, like Fayemi corroborated, the present insecurity challenge is not a problem that can be solved through a law and order response alone.
“Law and order will form part of a complex whole but security sector governance must go beyond law and order. It must also address all the various strands of the problem. What is our youth development strategy in Nigeria because we have 60% of our population under 25 and majority of these young people are totally fed up with the Nigeria state and when you are young and idle, other forces will find use for you. And I think that is part of the complex that we are not dealing with and those who are in the political society seem to be totally detached,” Fayemi said in an interview.
Given this background, should it not worry any discerning mind when confronted with more facts that some governors, especially the northern peers now reside almost permanently in Abuja for safety? Indeed, there are senators and House of Representatives members, who have not been home in a long time since they were elected into the National Assembly because they are scared of the situation back home.
For anyone, therefore, to think that the military is not taking notes of the developments or is indifferent to the danger posed by these unsavoury events is naïve and underscores why the nation is in a sorry state. What this means in essence is that if this is a country of “anything goes”, then nothing is outright impossible.
What is required, therefore, is a concerted, coherent strategy- a marshal plan that will also incorporate a state of emergency, and not see it as an end to a means. Such a marshal plan, as being propounded variously, must be based on a clear economic security strategy since the oxygen theory must be addressed wholly, else, the leadership may not have started anything yet.
Here is another point from Fayemi: “We cannot have 10.5million children out of school and not see a correlation between the violence and the haplessness and helplessness of these young people. There is a correlation somewhere. Poverty and violence are related and we must do certain things to help separate them and we can take specific steps but right now the bulk of what is happening even under state of emergency is being paid for by those states, so you can see what that does,” he said, analysing the depth of the implication of the present situation.
Of course, this debate cannot go on without revisiting the issue of multi-level policing of the system. From what happened in Rivers State on Tuesday and Wednesday when policemen shot teargas into Government House, Port Harcourt and allegedly engaged in gun battle, abuse of the police is obviously not a discredit peculiar to governors. In fact, more liable is the federal government. This is why the issue of multi-level police or state police as some would rather is imperative and until these issues are addressed and on merit without primordial colouration, the danger that the current situation portends will be a child’s play by the time it comes full circle.
While the steps taken by both Houses of the National Assembly are commendable, even though on recess, it is important to see the Rivers crisis as a matter of national importance, look into the larger context and analyse the implications with commensurate sanctions.
To say that they have a lot to lose should anything go wrong is begging the issue. The more reason they must take a firm stand, query the police leadership to defend its role in the sham. No doubt, the Inspector-General of Police, MD Abubakar has not impressed anyone with his reactions; instead, he has shown that indeed, the police in Nigeria are the same by looking the other way for the period that the madness lasted.
Without much ado, it might be safe to assume that this is a prelude to 2015. It is a sampler of what the federal government and the police intend to do in the state. The tendency that they might also not wait till 2015 is also plausible. In that alternative, the likelihood that they cause sustained crisis in Rivers is high, in the process of which the president will declare emergency in the state and fully take over government in the state as he appears to have always wanted to do.
The general belief now is that there is a calculated attempt to emasculate Amaechi. Ironically, those in this extrapolation are shortsighted to see that this is no longer about Amaechi alone. Whatever the personal deficiencies of the governor as some are likely to advance in defence of the indignity and derision of the nation’s collective good, the Rivers melodrama is about Nigeria and her democracy to which everyone owes their freedom and overt excesses, the president and his wife especially.
Source: Thisday
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