Why SPIP chair, Obono-Obla was suspended, by FG – TheNigerialawyer

The Federal Government has explained its decision to suspend
Chairman, the Special Investigation Panel for the Recovery of
Public Property (SPIP), Okoi Obono-Obla.

It said President Mohammadu Buhari elected to suspend Obob-Obla
upon his receipt of an interim report from the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on
allegations of misconduct and abuse of office against the SPIP
Chair.

A Deputy Director, Public Affairs in the Federal Ministry of
Justice, James Odaudu said, in a statement on Thursday, that
Obono-Obla trouble was informed by “series of petitions from legal
practitioners, concerned public spirited citizens and public
officers.

Odaudu said President Buhari has directed that the
Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary,
Federal Ministry of Justice, Dayo Apata to immediately take over
the affairs of the SPIP.

The statement reads: “Following the crisis arising from series
of petitions from legal practitioners, concerned public spirited
citizens and public officers, alleging abuse of office,
intimidation, unauthorized malicious investigation, financial
impropriety, administrative misconduct and forgery/falsification of
records by the Chairman of the Special Investigation Panel for the
Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), Chief Okoi Obono-Obla,
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed his immediate suspension
from office.

“The suspension follows the receipt and consideration of the
interim investigative report of the Independent Corrupt Practices
and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the matter.

“The President has also directed that the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) should
conclude its investigations and proceed to prosecute Chief Okoi
Obono-Obla.

“Meanwhile, the Solicitor-General of the Federation and
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Dayo Apata, Esq.
has been directed to immediately take over the affairs of the
Special Investigative Panel (SPIP).”

The Army-Police War: Where Is the NSA?
By Yushau A. Shuaib

“Our country is bedevilled… (by) multifarious security
challenges by which each agency must bring its wealth of experience
and comparative advantage to compliment the effort of another”- DG
DSS

The current Director-General of the Department of State Services
(DSS), Yusuf Bichi Magaji made the above remarks in his keynote
address, while hosting the meeting of the Forum of Spokespersons of
Security and Response Agencies (FOSSRA) on April 24.

The Forum was established in 2013 by the Office of the National
Security Adviser (ONSA) to enhance synergy and collaboration
amongst critical institutions that deal with issues of security and
its challenges in Nigeria.

As a sensitive security organ, the ONSA is statutorily empowered
to coordinate the activities of military, security, intelligence
and response agencies in combating terrorism, cybercrime and major
issues affecting the wellbeing of the state in Nigeria. It is a
known fact that during the previous administration, the ONSA hosted
regular meetings of security and service chiefs in addressing
issues that could create conflict in society.

While the meeting of the security chiefs was held almost every
other week in ONSA, the meeting of FOSSRA was held rotationally
among member-agencies every month until June 2015.

It is of utmost importance to highlight some instances when
FOSSRA’s interventions doused tension and stabilised the polity
within a climate of heightened agitations and security concerns in
the country.

In June 2014, the then National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki
officially tendered an apology to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, who was allegedly
harassed by joint-security operatives at an international summit on
Farmer-Herder Crisis in Kaduna. Both the former NSA and Speaker are
from the same royal family within the Sokoto sultanate, even if of
different statuses. (Link: http://bit.ly/31HNERy^[1])

Similarly, in one of the Army-Shi’ite altercations in Zaria,
also in July 2014, during which some members and children of Sheikh
Ibrahim Zakzaky  were killed by Nigerian soldiers, the
Chairman of FOSSRA, who was then the Director of Defence
Information, General Chris Olukolade, promptly issued an empathic
statement, expressing regret over the incident and announcing that
a panel would be constituted to unravel the remote causes of the
fracas. The statement played a magical role in nipping the
controversy in the bud. (Link: http://bit.ly/2TycxMD^[2])

The following month, the Commandant General of the Nigeria
Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and two operatives of the
Corps were allegedly disrespected and manhandled on different
occasions by the Police. As the media were feasting on the
controversy, the then spokesperson of the Nigerian Customs Service,
Wale Adeniyi hosted the monthly meeting of FOSSRA in September
2014, where the erstwhile Police spokesperson, Emmanuel Ojukwu
walked to the NSCDC spokesperson, Emmanuel Okeh and issued a joint
statement which doused the tension. (Link: http://bit.ly/31G3eNg^[3])

Meanwhile, since the appointment of Major General Babagana
Monguno (Rtd) as the National Security Adviser (NSA) by President
Muhammad Buhari in 2015, he has neither shown keen commitment to
nor hosted the meeting of the FOSSRA to guard against inter-agency
rivalry. The meeting of the Forum, which has become occasional, is
now being hosted by the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC) and
other security agencies that value synergy and collaboration in
information management.

If FOSSRA, which is domiciled under the ONSA, is very active,
the current acrimony between the Nigerian Army and the police over
the killing of the Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT)
operatives by soldiers in Taraba State could have been averted.
There would most likely have been an existing synergy and a more
cordial relationship between these two prominent actors within the
Nigerian security architecture and system.

It was alleged that soldiers of the 93 Battalion shot the IRT
operatives – including Inspector Mark Ediale, Sergeant Usman
Danzumi, and Sergeant Dahiru Musa – dead after they had arrested a
notorious kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Bala Wadume, who is now on the
run. The Army claims that the police officers were shot after being
mistaken for “suspected kidnappers” and blames the attack on a
communication gap.

The initial statement from the Police spokesperson, DCP Frank
Mba and immediate response by the Army spokesperson, Colonel Sagir
Musa, would have been needless if an effective mechanism of
inter-agency collaboration, as exemplified by FOSSRA, had been
adhered to.

There are trending videos, audios and sponsored stories on the
fracas that need to be contained before they further exacerbate the
present situation and persist as drivers of tension. It is quite
unfortunate that many Nigerians on the social and mainstream media
have continued to react to the incident through inciting,
inflammatory and embarrassing innuendoes.

It may not be surprising if the two public relations officers of
the security organs involved were actually taking orders from their
principals, rather than abiding by the ethics of crisis
communication management, which guide professionals on their
temperament, conduct and how to shape their messages during periods
of high volatility.

As spokespersons of security agencies, they are expected to be
courteous, restrained and conscious of the need to show great human
understanding and empathy in their public communications, at this
sort of time when such really matters. It is also very important
that their messages, like press releases, should be clear, concise,
concrete, correct and complete, without allowing for any form of
ambiguity in communication.

In all these, the absence of strategic leadership in dousing the
tension, at critical levels of the individual service chiefs,
merely escalates the inter-agency antagonism and fuels the heated
debates and fury pervading the media from visible and anonymous
sources.

Is it not embarrassing that different panels were allegedly
constituted to investigate this incident? While one is said to be
chaired by a military officer in the rank of a major general, the
other is noted as being headed by a security officer in the rank of
an Assistant Inspector General of Police.

As the coordinating organ of government on security matters,
ONSA should step in and manage this crisis, more professionally and
with experience, especially in the absence of a federal cabinet, as
the Ministers of Defence or that of Interior are yet to be sworn
in. The NSA can advise the Army Chief Lt General Tukuru Buratai and
Police Boss IG Mohammed Adamu on the need to urge their officers to
exercise restraint. In the alternative, the Presidential Media
Adviser should intervene by calling on the spokespersons of the
agencies to sheath their swords in this attrition and highly
unfortunate media war.

Yushau A. Shuaib
Author of An Encounter with the Spymaster
yashuaib@yahoo.com