Nigeria’s Political Class Likes Weak Police Force That Can Be Manipulated, Says Former Commissioner Of Police

By Frank Oshanugor

A former Commissioner of Police, Chief Innocent Chibuike Okeanonife has decried the continuous domination of Nigeria’s political class in the affairs of the Nigeria Police Force as he argued that the country’s political leaders would prefer to have a weak police that can always be manipulated according to the whims and caprice of those in corridors of power.

Speaking with ATLANTICNEWSONLINE in an exclusive interview in his office in Lekki, Lagos last Tuesday, Okeanonife who holds a Doctor of Criminolgy (PhD) degree in Security/Intelligence with bias in Artificial Intelligence noted that over the years, the political class has abused the constitutional powers of the police to the extent that its independence has greatly been eroded in respect of abuse of duties of the Police Council in electing Inspector General of Police.

According to him “the problem with Nigeria’s political class is that they want a weak police force they can manipulate because if they allow police to be independent to a large extent without political interference, police will do well and possibly checkmate excesses in governance. What we are seeing now is a situation where independence for the police cannot be allowed by those in the corridors of power.

“I am advising our political leaders to allow the police to be independent like what obtains in other places like the United States of America where they have Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and United Kingdom where there is the Scotland Yard 

“In such countries, if the president commits a crime, the police have the power to investigate him thoroughly and charge him to court after leaving the office under the Immunity Clause. Here in Nigeria where an Inspector General of Police (IGP) is appointed by the President according to whom he likes and not necessarily by competence, can such IGP have the moral courage to arrest the President’s allies when they commit crime?. Can the President be afraid of the IGP whom he personally appointed at any time?

“All these need a constitutional amendment to allow people who are qualified to be in charge. Appointments to sensitive positions like service chiefs should strictly be on merit, not on quota that breeds incompetence.”

Commenting on the much debated state police, Okeanonife stated that existence of state police would help in combating the rising insecurity in the local government, state, and the country as a whole.

He added that it will also negate the wantom imposition on the state by the federal authorities and other agents in the state emphasising that it
would enhance governance and fostering of Democratic accountability.

According to the former Commissioner of Police, state police would also help solve problems, share resources, prevent crimes, promote inter-agency collaboration, bring offenders to justice, reduce conflict and improve the overall quality of citizen life, and reduce logistic cost.

Clarifying the concept of State Police, he posited it does not mean that the state will solely control it but simply means a police that will enhance cultural input in policing.

Speaking further on influence of the political class on the Nigeria Police, he said “There has been a lot of interference from the political class using money to buy policemen to guard them whereas members of the public do not have enough policemen to give them security. The government itself is not taking good care of police personnel. Going after some cases, like terrorism, takes a lot of money to fight. If money is not there to get policemen, military, or civil defence who are in intelligence services that would help to reduce the crime, it becomes difficult.”

He contended that such interference from the political class and the rich men who hire armed police men to secure them would adequately be addressed when there is enough security for everybody adding that government currently is not doing enough for the police. He listed the problems of the police to include operational challenges, lack of adequate equipment and tool, shortage of quality police men, funding, budget contraints, rising crime rate, lack of electricity power/solar energy to power their equipments, antiquated penal code, congestion of cases in court, lack of public relations, poor grievance reporting procedures and majorly lack of trust by the members of the public and alledged oppresive conduct by the police, involving persons associated with cybercrime. All these challenges demand diligent approaches towards solving them.”

However, he was quick to note that the same problems are applicable in the United States of America and the other advanced countries, but the method of handling them is not the same as Nigeria.

According to the Artificial Intelligence expert, challenges in United State rely on the optimization of efficiency with modern technology, officer morale and mental health, negative legal complexities, Implementing and managing new technology, managing departmental efficeincy with limited resources and the pressure of public perception and accountability.

Speaking on what he called Bias Policing, Okeanonife explained that Bias-based profiling is the use of race, ethnicity, gender, state of origin, nepotism, sexual orientation, religion, economic status, background, age, or culture as the sole basis for police activity. He noted that such a culture has fallen short of global standard in policing.

Dr. Okeanonife who is author of books which include “Inter-agency intelligence gathering and sharing for effective crime control’ and VIP Protection and the future of Terrorism: Nigerian, Israeli and American Models of fighting Terrorism” has also decried the inadequacy of police personnel in Nigeria. He recalled that “a few years ago, a former President approved for the recruitment of more police personnel, but for some time now, the number of policemen recruited remains inadequate because of casualities and retirement.

“Second, enough finance is not directed to the police and corruption in the Police Force is another problem because even the money released to the police, what is the guarantee that those in intelligence and operation get enough to do their work. So we believe that the government should do all it can to ensure that people who are given leadership of the police or other security agencies are people who are qualified for the job. Appointment of the Inspector General of Police or headship of any other security agency should not have any political undertone. The most capable and qualified should be appointed irrespective of place of origin or nepotism.”

Emphasising further the challenges of the police, the former commissioner of police who is also a Security/Artificial Intelligence expert said the challenges of Nigeria Police force include lack of professionalism, indiscipline, lack of adequate manpower, lack of technological know-how, poor remuneration, inadequate training, lack of resources, insufficient government backing, poor service condition including the pension and gratuity of retired officers.

Rivalry among the nation’s security agencies, particularly in intelligence sharing, is one of the problems that affect proper policing in Nigeria. This, Okeanonife as a security expert has noted in his published book wherein he recommended the inclusion of Fusion Center as a way of sharing information intelligence, which will serve as a depository where information intelligence will be deposited and shared base on need to know.
Regrettably, he pointed out, “there is no such technology in Nigeria and there is lack of trust among security agencies.

The ex-Commissioner of Police who was incharge of Intelligece at Force Investigation and Intelligence Department, Abuja and at a time incharge of Investigation and Intelligence, Area 10, Abuja traced some of the problems of the police to the Justice Anthony Aniagolu Panel Report which exited the “E” Department of the Police which was Intelligence arm of the Nigeria Police Force from the Force.

The “E” Department according to him, was used in establishing the Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO) in 1976 which is the current Department of State Service. The NSO was supposed to feed the police with security intelligence and criminal intelligence, but unfortunately, when the NSO left and created a vacuum, it became a problem. Police later formed Criminal Intelligence and Security Intelligence to provide intelligence on how to fight crime but the NSO continued and transformed to State Security Service (SSS) and later Department of State Service (DSS) with the result that the police is not a member of intelligence committee which is domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser.

He stated further that Police only attend Intelligence meeting to listen and not with constitutional power to get intelligence from the committee as they are not members of the intelligence committee. “When DSS gets credible information intelligence that they should share with the police, they would be struggling to send it to the President and before it will come down, the crime might have been committed and the criminals would go away hence Intelligence is Timeous” he remarked.

“I suggest that in-as much as former President Olusegun Obasanjo had given the power through Act of parliament for the DSS to investigate cases,and charge to court which is unconstitutional, Inspector General of Police should come up with a Bill seeking constitutional amendment so that the police will be official member of the intelligence committee.

To him, “this will enable the police to get intelligence when it is timely and fight crime proactively. For now, police are fighting crime blindly.”

On the controversial issue of allowing private security guards to bear fire arms, Okeanonife said “the qualification for licensing private security company includes scrutiny, investigation of the private security company owners and some of them are senior ex-police officers, military officers who had custody and control of fire arms when they were in service. It is sancrosanct that they can control same when they are in private security business. The custody and the control of the arm will be properly managed.

“Abuse will not be there. These are neccesitated by the high insecurity in the country” He believed that if they are given licence, any state which is in dire need of security can hire them to protect them, individuals, farm, cattles and their property. Hence, the security and economy at large will improve and blosson, then the burden on security agencies like Police, Army, Civil Defence etc will be reduced drastically. The security in Nigeria saddled with the protection of 200 million Nigerians is grossly inadequate, and the government does not have money to pay if their number is increased to meet up the required population.
So the only way is that the private individuals who are rich can hire private security guards with arms in other to release police men attached to them so that more police men would be available to do their jobs.”

“To make these work, the Artificial Intelligence expert reiterated that the “the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security & Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) under the Ministry of Interior can originate a Bill to the National Assembly seeking for a review of the Private Guards Acts to allow operatives in the sector to bear fire arms. The DSS in this regard can play a major role to ensure that individuals or private security companies given the role to carry fire arms are the people whom they have checked their background to ensure that they do not abuse it and they are people who did not have terrorism incrimination.

“Some ex-policemen, ex-military personnel, and other para-military agencies trained while in service on the use of firearms who, after retirement, are redundant can also be recruited in the private security companies. The situation of the country currently calls for such a paradigm shift from what it used to be. We need to fight the insecurity in the country, particularly as it affects the economy of the country. In some states, people cannot go to the farm due to the presence of armed bandits, kidnappers, terrorists and so on.”

On retirement from the Nigeria Police Force, CP Okeanonife Innocent quite eager to contribute more to the Nigerian society, established a security consulting companies, Amala Nigeria Limited and Amala International Security which according to him was born out of the need to provide security to members of the public.

“So far, we provide security services in about 27 states in Nigeria. We have trained security men and all what it takes. We are doing our best. The only challenge we have is that some individuals or companies who are clients to Amala Security do not live up to expection in paying security guards very well because of the inflation and the harsh economic situation. Insurance companies do not help matter, as they will find flimsy excuses to evade and abdicate their responsiblities whenever there are challenges.

“We provide security, VIP protection, event management, and other security related functions. We have a training school where we train our operatives in laws governing private security and drill. It is called International Security Academy, located at Ibeju Lekki. Our current workforce is about 5000 personnel because the clients we have are all over the country. We also deal with embassies, banks, and government estbalabishment, both state and federal, who are in Nigeria. They engage us to give them VIP protection. We also have operative and bouncers for events and other security activities.

“We have Hilux, SUV vehicles we use for our operations depending on what a client wants. We also have an authority letter from the Inspector General of Police that permits the use of armed police by Amala Security when the need arises for individuals asking for such services and are capable of paying to the authorities.”

Chief (Dr) Okeanonife Innocent Chibuike is a graduate of Police Management from the University of Jos and holds a PhD in Security/Intelligence with bias in Artificial intelligence. He has a Master of Science degree in Criminology (Peace and Comflict Resoluton) LL.B Honors (Second Upper) and LL.B Law degree. He received training on Anti-Terrorism/VIP Protection and Aviation/Maritime Security at the International Security Academy, Herzelliya, Israel in 2001.

Over the years, while in service of the Police, he attended several local and foreign courses including Intelligence Gathering at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI) United States in 1999, Organised Crime in Madrid, Spain in 2004, Narcotic and Drugs in Switzerland in 2007 and many other courses.