Men of the mobile unit of the Nigeria Police, last Monday went on the streets of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital city, in alleged protest of non-payment of their six months’ arrears of special duty allowance.
JOSHUA EGBODO writes on what awaits the probe panel
When police protest went viral The personnel were reportedly deployed in January, to the troubled town which have over the years been under the siege of the Boko Haram insurgents.
Security or lack of it has drawn serious attention therefore impelling the federal government to deploy considerable numbers of security operatives to combat the challenge posed by these insurgents.
Viral social media video of the unfortunate incident show the personnel holding green leaves, and chanting slogans against the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr.
Ibrahim Idris, while sporadic gun shots were fired into the air.
There were also photographs reportedly taken during the protest.
Not protest but inquiry-Police Curiously, however, the police authority, through its Public Relations Officer, Mr.
Jimoh Moshood, said it was not a protest, but an inquiry visit by the men to find out what was delaying the payment.
He followed that the IGP has directed the Commissioner of Police, Borno State, to inform the men why there was delay in the payment, adding that since the budget has been signed, the allowances will be speedily processed and paid.
“Consequently, the IGP has ordered the Commissioner of Police, Police Mobile Force to proceed to Maiduguri, Borno State, and other states in the North East where PMF personnel are deployed on special duty, to lecture and inform them on the efforts being made by the Force to ensure timely payment of special duty and other allowances to police personnel in the NorthEast of the country”, the PRO stated.
IGP scrambled to the Villa Barely 24 hours after the protest, Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shetima, was reportedly involved in a closed-door meeting with the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr.
Abba Kyari, at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The IGP was also reported to have rushed to the Villa, few hours after the report of the protest went viral, ostensibly also to brief the Chief of Staff.
The incident got attention of the House of Representatives last Thursday, and the lawmakers resolved to set up a special Ad hoc committee to investigate, and unravel the circumstances surrounding the protest, which many members described as “shameful and a national embarrassment”.
The committee, which in all expectation will come into being this week, has two weeks to turn in its report.
Protest an embarrassment Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, Hon.
Kingsley Chinda, had in a motion under matters of urgent public importance, said the protest was bad enough, and must be investigated so as to prevent escalation to other security agencies, and other police formations.
According to him, such allowances for personnel on special duties should not be delayed, and faulted the defence put forward by the Ministry of Police Affairs, citing the late passage of the 2018 budget as not holding water.
“It is a disgrace to see security men protesting in such manner, especially when it has to do with their welfare”, he said.
Making contribution, Hon.
Hassan Saleh said it was a thing of shame that the police can be reduced to such level.
“It may not be peculiar with this people, it may be that they were the only ones who have the courage to protest”, the lawmaker stated while urging a thorough investigation.
While members were unanimous on the need to investigate the matter, concerns were raised on the need to protect the personnel involved in the protest.
They said experiences have shown that in order to silent dissent within the police, even when for the right reasons, the authority has the penchant for summary dismissal of personnel, as well as putting them through unfair punitive measures.
Police excuse diversionary Many analysts have in tune with Chinda’s submissions also dismissed the budget passage delay excuse as rather diversionary, as well as blamed the police authority for subjecting its personnel involved in such dangerous operations to hardship.
They argued that but for the kind of society we have found ourselves, heads should have rolled for that singular Borno incident.
Independent sources also noted that even where such allowances are purportedly being paid up to date, the personnel were usually short-changed through underpayment of the approved sums, with the men left helpless and lacking the courage to challenge the authorities.
Now that the House of Representatives has resolved to beam its searchlight into the Borno incident, it is the opinion of many that it should go beyond just that incident, and give room for wider responses across the country.
Pessimism has, however, been expressed by others on whether the police personnel will muster the courage to appear at an investigative hearing to present their grievances against their bosses, without being intimidated and victimised.
It is highly expected, therefore, that the committee, as it swings into the task before it, ensures the protection of the police personnel involved in the Borno protest, and even any other that chooses to volunteer information that will help the panel.
Many have suggested the use of written memoranda, which the panel can independently verify, as against physical appearance of the respondents.
To followers of internal operations of the Nigeria police, with allegations of widespread corruption, the panel may be up for a serious task, which only the courage of its members can subdue.
insurgents in Kano and Maiduguri battle fronts from 2012 to 2014.
When Boko Haram first struck in Kano in 2012, Kore was drafted as unit commander of PMF to repel and flush out the insurgents from the city.
Having performed gallantly in Kano, the police authority deployed him and his unit to Maiduguri front battle line from where he fought gallantly alongside the military to flush out Boko Haram insurgents from occupied communities.
Many combatants who came back alive from the battle fronts always have stories to tell of good or bad memories.
The story of CSP Kore’s survival from the onslaughts on Boko Haram and the several deadly counter attacks by the insurgents is no doubt laced with happy and sad experiences.
Happy side of his war memories Speaking to Blueprint on the happy side of his war memories, CSP Kore described teargas as the most powerful weapon that disorganizes Boko Haram formations more quickly than sophisticated weapons.
He said, “When the insurgents are smoked, they got confused and disorganized.
We then picked them like chickens.
The insurgents hate smoke more than any other weapon.
They are not deadly but cowards when they come under smoke”.
On the other side of the story is his saddest experience in the battle with insurgents in Maiduguri.
Kore become moody took a deep breath to tell the story of his sad moment on a day the battle was fierce to repel the insurgents in one of the several communities that got liberated.
On that particular day, according to him, there was an ambush by the insurgents and by the time they repelled, there was casualty.
He dedicated his promotion to God and his family who had given him the support to excel in the discharge of his duty.
Impressive Profile Off course, if the profile of CSP Kore was quite impressive, those of two other principal officers of the command who got their pips adjusted to the rank of DSP by Governor Bello, were by no means less.
One of these elevated officers who walked down the red carpet to have the handshake commendation of the Chief Security Officer of the state, was DSP Muhammad DanInna Abubakar, the incumbent Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command.
The PPRO got enlisted into the police as cadet ASP at the Nigeria Police Academy Wudil in 2012 as an Electrical Engineering graduate of ABU Zaria.
Despite his science based background, Abubakar has excelled in other fields of policing including intelligence and combat operations having gone through several trainings on the job.
Blueprint learnt that the position as the image maker of the command has showered DSP Abubakar with more light than any other position at this early stage of his police career.
Police/journalists’ relationship Our checks revealed that as ASP, Abubakar took over as the command PPRO in 2017 when the information unit was facing series of challenges especially in the area of dwindling as well as frosty relationship with media practitioners and the public.
It was reported that at the time he took over as command’s Spokesman, the position had high turnover of not less than four within 13 months.
The situation degenerated to the point that journalists were no more showing much interest in covering police activities in the state before Abubakar came to the rescue.
This was alluded to by a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) who gave the citation of the promoted PPRO at the decoration event.
He said that DSP Abubakar has restored cordial relationship between the public and the command as a result of which milestone successes were recorded by the police accounting for the peace that now prevail in the state.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent in Minna, the PPRO described journalists as the best professionals to work with once the right atmosphere was created for the dissemination of information with the open doors policy of the command.
He said, “Working with the media is one of the most impressive aspects of my duty.
I am happy to have a very cordial working relationship with members of the press in the state and I appreciate the support and cooperation they have extended to me since I assumed office.
According to him, Yakadi, has transformed the command into a proactive entity that has set criminals on exile from the state, adding that “as you know, we have been recording series of successes as shown in the several parade of suspects.
The public would not have known these achievements without the cooperation of journalists who have been covering the activities of the command effectively”.
On his part, Personal Assistant to the commissioner, DSP Abdullahi Bature expressed appreciation to the IGP Idris Ibrahim for the elevation to the new rank.
Bature got posted as PA to the CP Niger state in July 2017 after serving in different police formations across the state.
A graduate of BUK, Bature got enlisted into the police force as a cadet ASP in 2012.
He also served in Jigawa and Katsina states before coming to Niger state.
He told Blueprint in an interview that joining the police force was the best thing that had happened to him.
The command has since sent a letter of appreciation to Governor Bello for his kind gesture in gracing the decoration ceremony
