IF the officers and men of Nigeria’s paramilitary agencies learnt anything about civil treatment of the civil populace from the #ENDSARS crisis of 2020, they are yet to show it. Time and again, they engage in acts that portray utter betrayal of their professional calling, treating members of the public as some kind of subhuman species and abusing the powers of the Nigerian State. Of course, inter-agency rivalry among the federal agencies is not new, and neither is the utter disdain with which they view personnel of state law enforcement bodies hidden. Last week, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, some men of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) visited hell and Armageddon on officials of the Oyo State Road Transport Management Agency (OYRTMA) for daring to apprehend an Immigration officer for a traffic offence. Rampaging Immigration officers retaliated by arresting the OYRTMA officials, beating them blue and black, stripping them naked, and locking them up at their Zone F headquarters on Old Ife Road in Ibadan. A photojournalist, Seun Falomo, a cameraman with Galaxy Television, was assaulted for daring to capture the incident.
In a swift response to the dastardly incident, the Oyo State governor, Mr Seyi Makinde, condemned the brutalisation of the OYRTMA personnel. Speaking while on a visit to the residences of the two assaulted officials, namely Mr Nurudeen Abiola, a resident of Binukonu Olunloyo Area and Mr Taiwo Adeagbo, a resident of Oke-‘Badan area, as well as the Oyo State headquarters of the NIS, the governor described the incident as an unfortunate one that should never have happened, noting that Oyo State wished to be known for upholding the rule of law, and declaring that everyone must obey traffic rules regardless of their status. The governor assured the victims that the state government would take necessary action and bring the culprits to book. He said: “First, this should not be happening at all. It is very unacceptable. Whether you are an Immigration official or you work for other paramilitary agencies—these individuals are just trying to enforce the laws of the state. The fact that you work for a federal agency does not mean you are superior.”
Of course, personnel of the paramilitary agencies consider themselves to be superior to the laws of the land. That is evident in the decision of the Department of State Service (DSS) to keep mum over the brutalisation of journalists in Ibadan by their personnel, and the failure of the NIS to issue a public statement on the lawbreaking incident involving their officials in the same city, let alone give assurances of their resolve to ensure that justice is done in the matter. It is distressing that it took the visit of the Oyo State chief executive to the NIS headquarters in Oyo State for the public to feel that justice will be done in this matter. The impression, given without any pretences, is that if the governor had not taken it upon himself to address the issue, it would have died a natural death. Citizens should be able to get justice by simply reporting such incidents as the one under reference to the leadership of the paramilitary agencies. And just in case these agencies are yet to get the memo, their battered public image will never be repaired until they show fidelity to the law and treat complaints with dispatch and with the requisite respect for the civil populace.
In the extant case, it is regrettable that traffic officers were brutalised simply for doing their jobs. Pray, are Immigration officers above the law? Are they superior to the laws of Oyo State simply because they work for the Federal Government? And if they are “superior” to OYRTMA officials, is it by utter lawlessness that they intend to prove this point? In which civilised democracy do road traffic officers get brutalised and locked up for apprehending lawbreakers, even if they are uniformed men? Of course, Nigerians are all too familiar with the terrible way men of the paramilitary agencies tend to use the roads, particularly when they are in convoys. They meander through traffic, dispensing with traffic signals, brandishing horsewhips and bulldozing their way through, a perfect picture of anarchy. By brutalising the law-enforcing OYRTMA personnel and the journalist who dared to do his job, the Immigration officers in question trampled on the laws of the land, scoffed at the civil populace, and exhibited crass indiscipline rooted in institutional arrogance and gross irresponsibility. Unless the authorities act fast and apprehend the lawbreakers in question, the NIS risks being utterly diminished in the eyes of Nigerians. What a tragedy!
We sound this warning loud and clear: members of the military, police and paramilitary agencies who feel and act as if they are above the law are undermining not just democracy but the very sovereignty and integrity of the Nigerian State. They are a present and abiding danger to this Republic and must be fished out and punished in accordance with the strictest provisions of the law. Those who wish to live in the stone age where might is right have no place in a modern society.
We commend Governor Makinde for taking this matter up and for assuring that justice will be done. He has acted as a state chief executive should. He must pursue this case to a logical conclusion. We shall hold him to his word.
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