Managing security is as old as Nigeria if not older. The colonial authorities never looked at Nigerians as humans who could have conscience, contain criminal acts and report criminals to law enforcement agents. Every Nigerian then was perceived as barbaric who could not own up to responsibilities or brazenly inform the authorities who committed crime or not within their environs. They were perceived as people who were nonchalant to crime and aid and abet it. So, if a crime is committed somewhere, the approach of colonial masters was to arrest everybody found within the scene of the crime whether you were part of it or not. There was collateral damage in such incidents always.
This style of managing crime continued after Nigeria’s independence. The legacy can be seen in many facets of security operations. For instance, the Nigerian Police in the present 21st century, inherited the practice of arresting relations of a suspected criminal like the colonial masters if he or she could not be found. The police also arrest everybody within the crime scene despite their innocence. That is why in Nigerian parlance, ‘ I follow twenty thousand naira(N20,000), ‘ I no follow ten thousand naira(10,000)’. This parlance describes the action of many corrupt police officers who arrest people at random and extort money from them.
The same occurs with the Nigerian military who by its training and institution has an intelligence unit that obtains accurate information for the military to act either in war or peaceful situations. But, Nigerian army has a record of attacking everybody within the vicinity of any violence against a military personnel. Worse still, if a soldier is killed, it will attack any community within the vicinity, killing, maiming, burning and looting, thereby exacerbating the crisis. And to it, it is just normal; there must be collateral damage for a harm done to a soldier.
This cannot be justified in a modern society. It is the responsibility of military to investigate and apprehend specific culprits. It should not visit its frustration on an innocent person.
It is unfortunate that our law enforcement agents look at security and security management as arrest, detain, intimidate, flog , maim and what have you, as appropriate responses. Security is seen as gun totting, without realising that security management is vast with many approaches.
A good example of mismanagement of security was the case of Nnamdi Kanu and the Proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra( IPOB). The Nigerian security agents appeared not to read the minds of their suspects. For instance, Nnamdi Kanu became popular through the use of radio Biafra from London and exploited the marginalisation of the people of South-East to gain popularity. After doing that, he wanted to test the waters to go to prison like Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta etc, who championed their peoples freedom. So, he flew into Nigeria knowing full well that Nigerian authorities would arrest him. True to type, they fell for his game. The security agents did not ask the question what would make this man who had said terrible things about Nigeria and his people to visit home? They fell into his trap by arresting him, detaining and prosecuting him immediately. That was what the young man needed to warm himself into the hearts of South-easterners. So, the demand to free Nnamdi Kanu was everywhere. Before Kanu, there was Ralph Uwazurike. His activities did not get as much support as Nnamdi Kanu because Kanu’s case was mismanaged by security agents who over popularised him. More so, when he was granted bail by a federal high court, Nigerian army went to his house in a show of force, disrupted his prosecution, which made him to jump bail and become more vicious and daring. This culminated into the establishment of Eastern Security Network(ESN)/ unknown gunmen. Even when the Nigerian security agencies in collaboration with Kenyan authorities abducted him to Nigeria to face his trial, they even made ulcerous the crisis.
On his present trial, the international community feared that he might not be given fair trial because of the propaganda of hate of the Nigerian state against the Igbo, disseminated by IPOB across the globe. So, in the lips of the international community, Kanu should be treated fairly and transparently with respect for his rights including open trial. One would have expected the Nigerian security agencies to adhere to that thereby allaying the fears and presenting the federal government as unbiased. This was not to be as the DSS in their characteristics restricted alot of people including the international lawyer that came to observe the case thereby confirming the fears of the international community. Kanu’s case,one agrees is a high profile case, somebody might want to kill him, somebody might want to set him free. The Ohaneze representatives, his counsels, his foreign lawyer were they capable of killing him or setting him free? The answer is no. The DSS was just trying to be true to type as they were under the military. There should be brain not brawn in their operations.
In the South-East, every Monday there is sit-at-home order where nobody goes anywhere. This sit-at-home order is obeyed religiously by even corporate institutions such as banks. This has become a threat to the economy of the South-East and Nigeria. Inflation is galloping at an alarming rate. The situation is one of the dynamics worsening inflation in the country.
Recently, his IPOB group has threatened to embark on one month sit-at-home. This development could be a serious threat to Nigeria’s economy and political stability. The Anambra case where it threatened to disrupt the governorship election before it called it off was that the law enforcement agents became a bit wiser. Previously, it would have gone ahead to start arresting everybody associated with IPOB because of the threat.This would have hardened the group to become audaciously confrontational. But, in contrast, the security agencies chose not to take that path but encouraged responsible Igbo elders to engage and dialogue with them, which led to its cancellation of the sit-at-home order.
Perhaps, if the law enforcement agents had employed a different approach in handling Nnamdi Kanu’s case earlier, he won’t have been a hero he is now in the South-East.
Apart from the case of Kanu, some Nigerians were made popular and heroes to their people. For example, Asari Dokubo, El- Zakzaki, Sunday Igboho.
One is of the opinion that there are many ways to kill a rat. In some cases, the activities of a suspect can be monitored, tactic of divide and rule employed among his supporters, good surveillance and mind reading adopted to sabotage the suspect’s intentions and with strong evidence after weighing the options , he may be prosecuted for offences that have political consequences or not. Even in modern laws a case can be declared nolle prosequi by the Attorney-General even when evidences exist in order to take a path of political solution.
It is on this note that security operatives should show more intelligence, discretion and counsel the government of the day on how to handle delicate cases of insecurity. A Nigerian adage supports this and states that one should use wisdom in dealing with a tsetse fly perching on the scrotum . If you use force to kill the tsetse fly you crush the scrotum. If you leave the tsetse fly it bites the scrotum. So, wisdom is required in managing security.