Army’s Operation Positive Identification, Apartheid Policy In Disguise – Falana SAN

The proposed Operation Positive Identification (OPI) by the
Nigerian Army billed to begin nationwide on November 1 has been
described as a subtle ploy to foist the obnoxious apartheid policy
of the white minority regime in South Africa on Nigerians.

National Chairman, Peoples Alternative Front and rights
activist, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in a
statement, yesterday, also described the planned exercise as gross
infringement on the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights
to freedom of movement and dignity of Nigerian citizens.

The Army had announced that OPI, which is on-going in the North
East theatre of Boko Haram insurrection, would be extended to cover
the entire nation.

As a result, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Yusuf Buratai
has directed Nigerians to move about with legitimate means of
identification such as national identification card, voters
registration card, drivers’ license and international passport or
other valid official identification during the duration of the
almost a month-long exercise.

According to Buratai, the OPI is being conducted by the Army to
combat armed robbery, kidnapping and allied criminal activities in
all the 36 states of the federation.

But, Falana has disagreed with the Army, describing the
directive as a sad reminder of the illegal practice of the white
minority rulers, which compelled Africans to carry pass books
outside their homelands or designated areas under the apartheid
regime in South Africa. Even at that, the Senior Advocate argued
that under apartheid regime in South Africa the bearing of pass
books had been outlawed.

He lamented that similar operations such as ‘Operation Python
Dance, Operation Scorpion’ and others conducted by the Army in
civilian areas had recently led to reckless arrests, detention and
extrajudicial killings of innocent citizens.

“In fact, some of the armed soldiers involved in anti-robbery
operations have been indicted in the brutal killing of police
officers on duty. They have also raped women including
undergraduates,” he said.

He further argued that since majority of Nigerians do not have
any of the Army’s approved means of identification, they would be
subjected to unwarranted intimidation and physical attacks by armed
soldiers, who would pretend that they were looking for criminal
elements.

He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that that the
planned operation did not see the light of the day. “Since
Nigerians are not a conquered people, the degrading ‘Operation
Positive Identification’ should be stopped by the military
authorities,” he urged.

Falana also said the operation is illegal, using sections 215
and 217 of the Constitution to support his position.

“By virtue of sections 215 and 217 of the Constitution of
Nigeria, the Nigeria Police Force is saddled with the
responsibility to maintain law and order in the country, while the
armed forces are required to defend Nigeria from external
aggression and maintain its territorial integrity,” he said.

He agreed that the armed forces might be involved in the
suppression of insurrection as well as acting in aid of civil
authorities to restore order when called upon to do so by the
president, but insisted that in the instant case, there had been no
insurrection recorded in many parts of the country to warrant the
planned usurpation of police powers by the Nigerian Army, neither
has President Buhari deployed armed soldiers to combat armed
robbery, abduction and banditry.

He also drew attention to several cases where the courts have
held that the armed forces have no right to usurp the powers of the
police to maintain internal security in the country, citing
maintaining law and order during election as an instance of such
court orders.

“It is up to the police to protect our nascent democracy and not
the military, otherwise democracy might be wittingly or unwittingly
militarised. This is not what the citizenry bargained for, after
wresting power from the military in 1999. Conscious steps should be
taken to civilianise the polity and ensure survival and sustenance
of democracy,” he submitted.