For some years back now, the entire Nigerian nation had been practically overwhelmed by a level of criminality which the nation had never known since it came into being. And this despite the existence of the Nigerian Army, Navy, Air Force and Police all of which are centrally controlled by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Ordinarily, this ought to have warned those saddled with the responsibility of designing the Nigerian security architecture that something is seriously wrong with the current system which requires a complete overhaul. However the policy makers seem more concerned with their personal and narrow ethnic interests than the interests of the generality of Nigerians who daily bear the brunt of the current unwieldy security architecture in the country.
But we all know that those responsible for this sad state of affairs would not and can never partake in swallowing the bitter pills that they have created through their selfish political calculations.
Most Nigerians can easily imagine the enormous costs that we all have incurred as a result of the senseless centralization of the Nigerian Police through the militarily imposed 1999 Constitution.
From whatever angle one looks at it, no one can fail to see the absurdity of a country of an estimated 200 million population operating one centralized police in the face of our notorious technological, infrastructural and managerial deficiencies!
If those who created this scenario would be honest to themselves, they will accept the responsibility for deliberately creating the Haven for criminality that we currently witness in Nigeria today. What is even more absurd is the fact that the negative effects of the extant unitary police arrangement in our federation are most disastrous in the homes of these people who obstinately hold that the pernicious police system must not change!
With the level of cattle rustling and banditry currently going on in the Northwest states coupled with the devastation of the entire Northeast by all manners of criminality including Boko Haram, one ordinarily would have expected the northern Governors to be in the vanguard of the agitation for state controlled police under which they can become truly the chief security officers of their states as the 1999 constitution has described them. But mum has been the word from the northern Governors!
This should clearly indicate the state of mind of the people we are dealing with on this all- important matter of security. They would not yield to any idea of modernizing the Nigerian Police as long as the evil effects of the existing unitary arrangement do not affect them personally. Even their own people may be adversely affected, the economies of their states may be devastated but as long as they control the lion share of the national resources, they do not give a damn!
That is the painful situation that we now find ourselves in the Western part of Nigeria. While we aspire to transit to modernity and stride forward confidently, some of our compatriots who find it difficult to detach from the past are saying no. What is even most painful is the fact that the vehement opposition to the noble and currently compelling idea of state and local policing is coming from quite unexpected quarters!
The recent intervention of Alhaji Balarabe Musa in the current Amotekun controversy is quite surprising and also revealing. It is most disappointing that someone like Alhaji Musa who for long had portrayed himself as a progressive and who had been widely regarded as one of those few from the North that are likely to liberate his people from their ultra conservatism can so easily unravel his true nature the way he did on this issue of Amotekun.
In his contribution to the Amotekun controversy as an elder statesman, he saw the Amotekun initiative by the Western State Governors as a way of introducing Oduduwa Republic through the backdoor! How a person of Alhaji Musa’s Calibre can jump to this curious and divisive conclusion is rather baffling. But it is also revealing and it speaks volumes about how the minds of our northern compatriots work!
The World Teacher had taught us a great lesson in human nature when he said ” by their works, ye shall know them” It is rather strange that our northern brothers do not realise that their attitude and utterances against any social or political initiative from other parts of the country actually expose their unwholesome schemes against other Nigerians.
The work of building this nation up to this point is not done by only one ethnic group. It is done jointly by all the nationalities- Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo and all the others; and so it is false for only one of the groups to arrogate to itself the right to determine what is good for the nation. It is also not true for this ethnic group to claim that they alone know how to maintain and protect the unity of Nigeria.
Any keen observer of the Nigerian political configuration would easily note that this unity mantra by our northern compatriots is nothing but a camouflage to perpetrate their unjust political and economic agenda. The kind of unity they want and intend to force on others is that which allows them to dictate the pace in our political and economic affairs even if such is detrimental to the interests of other national groups! But this is quite contrary to the arrangement agreed upon by our founding fathers at independence in 1960.
According to that agreement, our unity was hinged on our diversity in a federation of nationalities which were to run their affairs in ways and manners suitable to their respective cultures and traditions. But all that had now been turned upside down by the current militarily imposed constitution to the extent that the creation of local government area, a purely local affair, had become entrenched in the constitution.
That is the level of absurdity that has now become an inseparable part of the Nigerian nation. We can now only pray and hope that very soon, a true Statesman would emerge and put a stop to the on-going chicanery and set the national feet on the path of progress and modernity.
Our country is a potentially great country, indeed a potential world power but all those who had been fortuitously granted the power of political leadership had not measured up to the required standards. We are however assured by the old saying that ” when the loads of bricks become too heavy, there comes Moses”
