Ostensibly buttressing the fact that he was not carried along before the policemen were assigned from Abuja to Magodo, Sanwo-Olu said, “They (policemen) are not from the Lagos State Police Command. They said they are from Abuja. I don’t know what other interest they have beyond keeping the peace of the country. This is not an expectation that I expect from them because they don’t have any business here.”
If there is a trend which most Nigerians are familiar with, and which characterizes Nigeria’s socio-political milieu, it is unarguably that of seeing people shouting at each other at any given forum. The trend has for the umpteenth time manifested as people exchange brickbats on social media platforms rather than engaging in intelligent discussions. In a similarly vein, Nigerians are not unfamiliar with horrific incidents of road rage, and increased instances of public shaming of one another.
As Nigerians, we are used to seeing politicians and governments’ appointees or lackeys get engrossed in blame games while literarily closing their eyes to prevalent glitches. While it cannot be denied that the world respects us for being a federation, the federal government, from one political dispensation to the other, has been bastardizing the tenets of true federalism by refusing to reflect the required dynamism of federal architecture in its policing structure.
Against the foregoing backdrop, it is expedient to opine that the refusal of the federal government to put constitutional plans that would pave the way for the existence of State Police across the 36 states of the federation in place has in the past political dispensations and the ongoing political dispensation triggered altercations between the office of the Inspector General of Police and the office of the Governor.
Nigerians will not forget so soon about what happened in 2013 and 2014 between Rotimi Amaechi as the then governor of Rivers State and the then Commissioner of Police in the State, Joseph Mbu. The battle between them, which was unarguably about who has the supreme power to control the security architecture in the State was so messy that Journalists feasted on the screaming headlines it was generating by each passing day. It was so fierce that Amaechi on a particular night was denied access to his private residence in the Government House in Port Harcourt by the police. It was gathered that Amaechi and no fewer than 70 visitors were denied access to his private residence in the Government House when he wanted to enter through the Old GRA road.
In a similar vein, in 2016, Ayo Fayose, who was then the governor of Ekiti state stopped the arrest of a woman who tried to withdraw money from an account already red-flagged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). But the EFCC in a statement denied detaining any one, while also revealing the role of Governor Ayo Fayose in frustrating the arrest.
Still in this same vein, Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, in 2020 rescued Joi Nunieh, former managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), from forceful arrest by officials of DSS.
Analysed from the perspective of the foregoing, it is germane to say that when it comes to those who hold high office, such as governors, as Nigerians are often told, there should be respect for the office if not the governor himself. But sometimes that is hard to do, when the offender is right there, and rudely exchanging words with the governor in a face-to- face manner.
The foregoing proved to be the case when a Chief Superintendent of Police, Abimbola Oyewole, few days ago openly defied the order of the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to vacate the Magodo Phase 2 Estate area of the state. The CSP told the governor that he and his armed colleagues were at the estate on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba; as well as the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.
For the sake of clarity, Sanwo-Olu had led members of his cabinet to visit the residents protesting the continuous presence of armed policemen in the estate where they had besieged for days in connivance with suspected land grabbers and members of a family who had planned to demolish property in the estate to execute a Supreme Court judgment. On the strength of the commotion which the development had caused, landlords and tenants who were obviously panicky over their fate called the governor to intervene and he visited the scene, and told the leader of the police delegation that the land matter was a case between private individuals and the state government.
Having reminded the CSP that he and his team that were deployed to the estate from Abuja were carrying their assignments beyond their jurisdiction, even without carrying him along as the Chief Security Officer of the State, Sanwo-Olu demanded from him, “Can you call your superiors in Abuja and tell them that the governor is here and as the Chief Security Officer, you don’t have any business being in my state right now and that I want you to disengage right now?”
In his response to the governor’s humble request, Oyewole defiantly replied, “I am here on the instruction of the Inspector General of Police through the AGF. I am too small or too low to call them. Your Excellency sir, you can call them sir.”
When the governor asked of the number of policemen at the estate, Oyewole told the governor, “My men are here; they are all over the place, I cannot precisely tell you how many we are. For security purpose, I cannot tell you the number.”
Ostensibly buttressing the fact that he was not carried along before the policemen were assigned from Abuja to Magodo, Sanwo-Olu said, “They (policemen) are not from the Lagos State Police Command. They said they are from Abuja. I don’t know what other interest they have beyond keeping the peace of the country. This is not an expectation that I expect from them because they don’t have any business here.”
Analysed from the perspective of the bitter dialogue that ensued between the governor and Oyewole, and the height of disrespect he exhibited, one can understand why the 17 Southern governors had in July 2021 resolved that security agencies must notify them as the Chief Security Officers of their states before they carry out any operation within their individual territories.
In fact, there is no denying the fact that that the 1999 Constitution is deceptive by claiming that Nigeria is been governed under a federal system of government whereas it strips the Governor of a State of powers over security.
Given the foregoing views, it is advisable for the leadership of the Nigerian Police, the presidency and the Attorney General to always inform any governor whose State needs security assistance from the federal level that policemen would be deployed to his State rather than taking him by surprise. Also, while Nigerians continue to agitate for State Police, it is expedient to urge the police to refrain from disrespecting the office of the governor.
Isaac Asabor
