Govt’s Call For Self Defence: A Sad Admission Of Failure To Secure Lives And Properties (2)

By Afe Babalola SAN

LAST week, I discussed the call by some Governors for the
citizens of their state to take up arms against their invaders. As
I noted, not only is such a call impracticable in view of the
nature of sophisticated weapons utilized by the said invaders, it
also amounts to a betrayal of the government’s inability to fulfill
its primary constitutional mandate to ensure the security and
welfare of the citizenry – and a breach of the social contract by
which the people surrender their individual rights in exchange for
the government’s mandate to maintain social order.

Recently, the news of the attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy
(NDA) inundated the print and digital media space, an attack viewed
by many as a mockery of the nation’s entire defence and security
apparatus and architecture. It conveyed a sad, unsettling, and
undeniable message – that nowhere, no parastatal, no government
institution or agency is impenetrable, unreachable, or secure. The
attack which reportedly led to the death of two senior officers,
and the kidnap and eventually murder of an army Major, was,
according to The Sun, a strike on the soul of the nation. The NDA
is not an ordinary institution. It is not an amusement park. It is
not a tourist centre. It is an elite military academy that
represents the centrepiece of our national defence, security,
policy, planning, training, and management. The NDA ought to have
been fortified against foreseen and unforeseeable attacks of any
kind. Sadly, it was not. If criminals, bandits, and terror groups
can kidnap schoolchildren easily, ransack and loot school property
regularly, indiscriminately bomb places of worship, motor parks,
and places where people gather, the NDA should have been extremely
difficult for terror groups to infiltrate.

Not long thereafter, another report hit the news media of the
killing of Senator Na’Allah’s son, one Captain Abdulkarim ibn
Na’Allah who was a trained pilot, by bandits who strangled him to
death. To date, there has been no fruitful investigation to unravel
the mystery behind his death, or to reveal who the actual culprits
are. The state of security in Nigeria has called for a major effort
to be carried out by the government, and certainly not merely
calling for the people to rise up and defend themselves. It reminds
me of a popular quotation from Geofrey Chaucer’s ‘The Prologue to
the Canterbury Tales’ that if gold rusts, what will the iron do? If
the Nigerian Defence Army, an elite military academy with
well-armed and properly trained soldiers, is not immune to being
attacked, what then is the fate of the common people who are
otherwise unarmed or poorly armed in the hands of these bandits who
run roughshod of the nation’s security apparatus?

The answer certainly lies in the government doing more to curb
the incidences of insecurity in Nigeria. According to the UNDP,
there are seven factors of security deemed as constituting the
concept of human security. This includes food security, health
security, political security, community security, personal
security, economic security and environmental security. The Open
Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) recognises four major
steps to tackle insecurity in Nigeria. First, for security to be
maintained, the Nigerian government should seek necessary
assistance in reviewing the current security policies, to ensure
continuous peace and stability. This means that the country should
take on long term policies designed to handle micro security and
counterterrorism. These policies should include the involvement of
the different sectors with a sense of accountability in the
security process. Second, as part of the cause of contemporary
security issues revolves around religious activities, funding
should be made available to independent bodies to intercede during
religious unrest, and also create platforms to foster peaceful
coexistence among the religious groups. Third, vital to security of
any country is transparency of the government in power; this is
pertinent to the Nigerian government particularly in the management
of the oil sector and distribution of wealth; and fourth, the need
to set up a functional Human Rights commission to handle cases of
injustice and mistreatment.

Corruption and Insecurity

It has equally been recognised that the cause of security issues
is due to the misplaced priorities and corruption practices of the
serving government, including the legislative and judicial arms of
government. There is certainly a directly linkage between
corruption and insecurity. According to the 2020 report of
Transparency International, Nigeria ranks 149th on a list of 180
countries. No doubt, corruption is endemic in the Nigerian social
apparatus and the governance, without exception. Every year,
Nigeria is continually listed amongst the most corrupt and
crime-ridden countries. Many businesses cannot hope to survive or
thrive without having to resort to corrupt practices. Sometimes
ago, a foreign investor who left Nigeria attributed its decision to
the prevalence of corruption.

Things have become so bad that one cannot but see comparisons
between our present state and the words of Ayn Rand in her novel
“Atlas Shrugged”, published in 1957, where she wrote the following:
“When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain
permission from men who produce nothing. When you see that money is
flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favours. When you
see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your
laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you,
when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a
self-sacrifice, you may know that your society is doomed.”

The Global Journal of Human-Social Science: Political Science
reports that corruption remains one of the greatest challenges to
security in the country. The connection between corruption and
insecurity is not far-fetched. Corruption fans the embers of
poverty, crimes and by extension insecurity. For instance, armed
robbery, cultism, terrorism, disease, unemployment and other
factors which lead to insecurity are directly or indirectly related
to corruption. The advent of militancy, kidnapping and terrorism in
Nigeria can be traced to corruption. In the Niger Delta region
where militancy first occurred, it was championed by political
thugs who were initially recruited by corrupt politicians prior to
elections in the region. These thugs who became idle after the
elections had no other job but found one in the form of militancy
which eventually metamorphosed into bombing of oil installations
and kidnapping of foreign oil workers for ransom. Despite amnesty
granted to the militants leading to the sheathing of sword,
kidnapping for ransom or rituals spread across the country and to
date, many find it a ‘lucrative’ business. The same is also true of
the North-East where the Boko Haram sect continues to make life
insecure for citizens, extending their frontiers down South. Like
their predecessors, Niger Delta militants, many of the sect members
were once political thugs. The Nigerian security apparatus has
never been immune from the incidence of corruption, and this has
made it difficult for security workers to effectively perform their
duties or for policies to work effectively.

Corruption characterised the various military regimes in
Nigeria, especially the regimes of Ibrahim Babangida and SaniAbacha
who looted public treasury for personal gains. To date, the
recipient foreign countries of the Abacha lootings have been
repatriating the funds back to the country.

Conclusion

Though this series commenced from an insight into the call by
the certain governors for their citizens to rise up the security
challenges bedevilling their communities, one cannot but further
explore the root cause of the current security situation in Nigeria
which is largely attributable to corruption which is rocking the
very essence of the nation’s socio-economic and security
apparatuses. There is more to be done by both the citizenry and the
government in curbing corruption which will have an attendant
ripple effect in bolstering the security situation in the nation. I
encourage the convenance of a Sovereign National Conference towards
revisiting the institutional, security, socio-economic, and
political structure of Nigeria. By its very design, a Sovereign
National Conference is convened to carry out political
transformation. As I once noted in an editorial, it is appropriate
where the economic, political and social structures seem incapable
of solving the problems of the country as it is in Nigeria today so
that instead of resorting to arms, a peaceful and orderly change
can take place. The operative word, “sovereign” in a Sovereign
National Conference connotes that the body is not merely advisory
or consultative. Rather, it will be an assembly of elected
representatives of the Nigerian people, backed by an enabling law,
with the mandate and power to fundamentally restructure the
political, economic, social, and constitutional future of the
country.

AARE AFE BABALOLA, SAN, OFR, CON, FNIALS, FCIArb.,
LLD.

By Afe Babalola SAN

LAST week, I discussed the call by some Governors for the
citizens of their state to take up arms against their invaders. As
I noted, not only is such a call impracticable in view of the
nature of sophisticated weapons utilized by the said invaders, it
also amounts to a betrayal of the government’s inability to fulfill
its primary constitutional mandate to ensure the security and
welfare of the citizenry – and a breach of the social contract by
which the people surrender their individual rights in exchange for
the government’s mandate to maintain social order.

Recently, the news of the attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy
(NDA) inundated the print and digital media space, an attack viewed
by many as a mockery of the nation’s entire defence and security
apparatus and architecture. It conveyed a sad, unsettling, and
undeniable message – that nowhere, no parastatal, no government
institution or agency is impenetrable, unreachable, or secure. The
attack which reportedly led to the death of two senior officers,
and the kidnap and eventually murder of an army Major, was,
according to The Sun, a strike on the soul of the nation. The NDA
is not an ordinary institution. It is not an amusement park. It is
not a tourist centre. It is an elite military academy that
represents the centrepiece of our national defence, security,
policy, planning, training, and management. The NDA ought to have
been fortified against foreseen and unforeseeable attacks of any
kind. Sadly, it was not. If criminals, bandits, and terror groups
can kidnap schoolchildren easily, ransack and loot school property
regularly, indiscriminately bomb places of worship, motor parks,
and places where people gather, the NDA should have been extremely
difficult for terror groups to infiltrate.

Not long thereafter, another report hit the news media of the
killing of Senator Na’Allah’s son, one Captain Abdulkarim ibn
Na’Allah who was a trained pilot, by bandits who strangled him to
death. To date, there has been no fruitful investigation to unravel
the mystery behind his death, or to reveal who the actual culprits
are. The state of security in Nigeria has called for a major effort
to be carried out by the government, and certainly not merely
calling for the people to rise up and defend themselves. It reminds
me of a popular quotation from Geofrey Chaucer’s ‘The Prologue to
the Canterbury Tales’ that if gold rusts, what will the iron do? If
the Nigerian Defence Army, an elite military academy with
well-armed and properly trained soldiers, is not immune to being
attacked, what then is the fate of the common people who are
otherwise unarmed or poorly armed in the hands of these bandits who
run roughshod of the nation’s security apparatus?

The answer certainly lies in the government doing more to curb
the incidences of insecurity in Nigeria. According to the UNDP,
there are seven factors of security deemed as constituting the
concept of human security. This includes food security, health
security, political security, community security, personal
security, economic security and environmental security. The Open
Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) recognises four major
steps to tackle insecurity in Nigeria. First, for security to be
maintained, the Nigerian government should seek necessary
assistance in reviewing the current security policies, to ensure
continuous peace and stability. This means that the country should
take on long term policies designed to handle micro security and
counterterrorism. These policies should include the involvement of
the different sectors with a sense of accountability in the
security process. Second, as part of the cause of contemporary
security issues revolves around religious activities, funding
should be made available to independent bodies to intercede during
religious unrest, and also create platforms to foster peaceful
coexistence among the religious groups. Third, vital to security of
any country is transparency of the government in power; this is
pertinent to the Nigerian government particularly in the management
of the oil sector and distribution of wealth; and fourth, the need
to set up a functional Human Rights commission to handle cases of
injustice and mistreatment.

Corruption and Insecurity

It has equally been recognised that the cause of security issues
is due to the misplaced priorities and corruption practices of the
serving government, including the legislative and judicial arms of
government. There is certainly a directly linkage between
corruption and insecurity. According to the 2020 report of
Transparency International, Nigeria ranks 149th on a list of 180
countries. No doubt, corruption is endemic in the Nigerian social
apparatus and the governance, without exception. Every year,
Nigeria is continually listed amongst the most corrupt and
crime-ridden countries. Many businesses cannot hope to survive or
thrive without having to resort to corrupt practices. Sometimes
ago, a foreign investor who left Nigeria attributed its decision to
the prevalence of corruption.

Things have become so bad that one cannot but see comparisons
between our present state and the words of Ayn Rand in her novel
“Atlas Shrugged”, published in 1957, where she wrote the following:
“When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain
permission from men who produce nothing. When you see that money is
flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favours. When you
see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your
laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you,
when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a
self-sacrifice, you may know that your society is doomed.”

The Global Journal of Human-Social Science: Political Science
reports that corruption remains one of the greatest challenges to
security in the country. The connection between corruption and
insecurity is not far-fetched. Corruption fans the embers of
poverty, crimes and by extension insecurity. For instance, armed
robbery, cultism, terrorism, disease, unemployment and other
factors which lead to insecurity are directly or indirectly related
to corruption. The advent of militancy, kidnapping and terrorism in
Nigeria can be traced to corruption. In the Niger Delta region
where militancy first occurred, it was championed by political
thugs who were initially recruited by corrupt politicians prior to
elections in the region. These thugs who became idle after the
elections had no other job but found one in the form of militancy
which eventually metamorphosed into bombing of oil installations
and kidnapping of foreign oil workers for ransom. Despite amnesty
granted to the militants leading to the sheathing of sword,
kidnapping for ransom or rituals spread across the country and to
date, many find it a ‘lucrative’ business. The same is also true of
the North-East where the Boko Haram sect continues to make life
insecure for citizens, extending their frontiers down South. Like
their predecessors, Niger Delta militants, many of the sect members
were once political thugs. The Nigerian security apparatus has
never been immune from the incidence of corruption, and this has
made it difficult for security workers to effectively perform their
duties or for policies to work effectively.

Corruption characterised the various military regimes in
Nigeria, especially the regimes of Ibrahim Babangida and SaniAbacha
who looted public treasury for personal gains. To date, the
recipient foreign countries of the Abacha lootings have been
repatriating the funds back to the country.

Conclusion

Though this series commenced from an insight into the call by
the certain governors for their citizens to rise up the security
challenges bedevilling their communities, one cannot but further
explore the root cause of the current security situation in Nigeria
which is largely attributable to corruption which is rocking the
very essence of the nation’s socio-economic and security
apparatuses. There is more to be done by both the citizenry and the
government in curbing corruption which will have an attendant
ripple effect in bolstering the security situation in the nation. I
encourage the convenance of a Sovereign National Conference towards
revisiting the institutional, security, socio-economic, and
political structure of Nigeria. By its very design, a Sovereign
National Conference is convened to carry out political
transformation. As I once noted in an editorial, it is appropriate
where the economic, political and social structures seem incapable
of solving the problems of the country as it is in Nigeria today so
that instead of resorting to arms, a peaceful and orderly change
can take place. The operative word, “sovereign” in a Sovereign
National Conference connotes that the body is not merely advisory
or consultative. Rather, it will be an assembly of elected
representatives of the Nigerian people, backed by an enabling law,
with the mandate and power to fundamentally restructure the
political, economic, social, and constitutional future of the
country.

AARE AFE BABALOLA, SAN, OFR, CON, FNIALS, FCIArb.,
LLD.