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By Enyeribe Ejiogu and Gilbert Ekezie
Barely nine days to the emergence of the new national leadership of the Police Community Relations Committee, PCRC, loud dissenting voices of aggrieved stakeholders can still be heard across the country.
Established in 1984 by the Nigeria Police Force to promote good relations between the Police and the general public in ways that enhance efficient and effective policing of communities in the country, the main responsibility of the PCRC, which is a voluntary service organisation, “is to provide support and assistance to the police and other security agencies and thereby help in prevention, prosecution and fight against crime at all levels.
Through the years, the PCRC has lived up to its slogan, “Services To Humanity’,as both the leadership and the members have sought to promote cooperation between the police and communities in the onerous task of protecting lives and property of the people.
Again, for years, transition from one national leadership team to the succeeding one, has been relativly smooth and rancour-free as it was done through elections.
However, developments in the nation’s 2023 political transition process and the way particular presidential candidates of the leading political parties emerged threw a spanner in the works and set off loud cries of marginalisation by certain stakeholders who alleged that the agenda being pursued by the current leadership would ultimately not augur well for the PCRC, if not promptly and wisely addressed.
Undercurrents of trouble began as the end of the tenure of the National Chairman, Amb. Dr. Faruk Abdullahi Maiyama (Yarimam Jega), who has served two terms of four years each, began to draw close.
With that in sight, a transition process was initiated. But the process quickly took a turn that left some aggrieved stakeholders disturbed as they instantly felt that an untoward agenda was at play, especially as it somewhat mimicked developments in one of the major political parties, which produced a same-faith ticket for the 2023 presidential election.
In the case of the PCRC, one of the agrrieved stakeholders from the South, who spoke with Sunday Sun on condition of anonymity, expressed displeasure that the leadership hid behind the constitution to achieve the goal of having another Muslim-to-Muslim transition despite the fact that all the past national chairmen had always been Muslims from the North.
Hear him: “Is PCRC now an Islamic organisation? How come the past national chairmen who have been northern Muslims and now being succeeded by another Muslim from the Southwest?”
Alluding to the strong objection raised by the Northern Christian Caucus of the All Progressives Congress, which kicked against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s choice of former Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate, he queried: “Does it mean that no Christian from the South is qualified to vie for the position of national chairman, just as Tinubu implied that he could not find a suitable Northern Christian to be his running mate?
“What is happening in PCRC is a reflection of what has been going on for years in Nigerian Customs, Immigration, Army, Police, NDLEA, DSS, whereby you have people from a particular section of the country occupying the top leadership of national bodies to the exclusion of people from other ethnic regions.”
Agreeing with his position on the choice of another Muslim to lead the PCRC at the national level, a PCRC patron in Satellite Division, Lagos, Ambassador Nwameme Joel, fumed: “Why and how will I be satisfied with such selection they termed election? No doubt, the tenets and beauty of democracy in our country today is gradually diminishing, collapsing and sinking. And this is a replica of what we are currently facing in our democratic system today.
“It is a practical example of what Pa Adebanjo, the Afenifere leader, has condemned in the strongest terms. The North, whether core or not, by now, should have realized that their stand to always dominate and lord leadership over other ethnic groups in Nigeria has a limited success. Their gluttony for power possession is capable to even give credence to various agitations for separation in the country. PCRC, as its name implies, is a grassroots policing body whose leadership should be subjected or decided by all the ethnic groups comprising the six geographical zones. Power sharing in the PCRC should not only be practised, but seen to be practised if the existence of PCRC must be an immense contribution to the curtailment and arrest of the menace called kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, Yahoo-Yahoo and other social vices in our dear country.”
Another source, who also sought anonymity, slammed the leadership change process, saying that what transpired was a dictatorial agenda clearly configured to achieve a long term purpose of stifling contrary voices.
He said: “Article 19 of the PCRC Constitution makes it mandatory for the National Executive Council of the PCRC to appoint the members of the electoral committee. What used to happen in the past was that the National Working Committee would throw it open to the floor and allow members to nominate prospective candidates to the NEC, which would then ratify the nominees. In this case, this was not done. In fact, the NWC did not even have the benefits of nominating people, not to talk of making recommendations to the NEC for ratification.
“I attended the meeting and I was handed a paper that listed the names of members of the electoral committee and all that. The same thing happened at the NEC meeting. Unfortunately, you cannot go to court to challenge this kind of arbitrary and cavalier treatment of a major issue such as the process of recruiting the next national leadership of the PCRC. It is the constitutional defect that has allowed the clique in the national leadership to do things with impunity. That is the issue as regards the election.
“Normally too, you would expect people to ask questions. But nobody asked question, nobody even coughed. It was as if a spell was cast on everybody. Everyone was shocked into silence. Again, you don’t fix elections. You allow people to pick forms and express interest. Instead, the outgoing Chairman, Faruk personally chose people for different positions according to geopolitical zones. Clearly, this did not meet any minimum standard or decency expected in a democratic electoral process. Generally, what the man never tolerated at the zonal and state levels is what he is allowing to play out at the national level.”
Another source who also craved for anonymity said with a chuckle that the political virus affecting the parties has also infected the PCRC
Hear him: “There is politics in every organisation, but PCRC is a voluntary service organisation which is security-based. For the first time in 16 years the chairmanship of the PCRC is coming to the Southern part of the country. The issue is why should the consensus candidate be Southern Muslim, why not a Christian given that the last chairmen who occupied the office for eight years each were northern Muslims. The argument is that this is unfair and unjust. What this means is that Muslims will have held the national chairmanship for 24 straight years, by the time the incoming consensus chairman from Ogun State completes the constitutionally allowed eight years.
“Nonetheless, there is a shift from the North to the South, and I don’t think religion or ethnic consideration should define the operations of the PCRC. More importantly, whosoever that will be the leader of PCRC should know what to do and have vision of the organisation. The person must have capacity to lead an organisation that has multi-ethnic membership spread across the country.”
For passionate PCRC members, who allege that the leadership recruitment process which will terminate on November 29, 2022, has not been executed transparently without a hidden agenda, a lecturer in the Department of Geography, Kano State University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Kano State, Dr. Usman Garo, fired a sharp rebuttal, describing them as “white liars.”
Garo, who is the current national publicity secretary, and seeking to emerge as National Auditor in the next dispensation, explained how the national body arrived at its decision on the forthcoming change in national leadership.
His words: “There was transparency in the sense that we created a level playing ground for every person to come out, to express his interest. Forms were bought and people were given chances to participate in the election. But we have two major ways of producing leaders: there is election and there is adoption.
“In a situation whereby we have many contestants, before going into nominations, we create a dialogue that involves our national patrons who guide our activities. PCRC is a sacrificial service, which is not a moneymaking venture.
“ We conduct dialogue, to thoroughly evaluate the capacity of the contestants. If one person shows more capacity and ability to deliver on the mandate of PCRC, then the party that is adjudged to have less capacity will be encouraged to stepdown for the other.
“The purpose is to ensure that we avoid having dirty politics, because it would not be good for the PCRC if we operate like political parties. In cases where we are not able to use adoption, then we go for election. But in a situation where we reach consensus for one party to stepdown, we then go for adoption, to produce leaders for the PCRC.
“In the case of the forthcoming election, we don’t have any issue. We have done everything required under the PCRC constitution. So, whosoever is making any claims to the contrary is a white liar.”
On the allegation made by a member from Zaria, who told Sunday Sun that the Chairman of the PCRC Electoral Committee, Alhaji Suleiman Marafa Argungu is a brother to the outgoing national chairman, who is naturally presiding over the transition, Dr. Garo debunked the claim, saying: “That is very false. He is not his brother. Rather, they come from the same Kebbi State, but not the same local government. While the national chairman is from Maiyama Local Government Area, the Electoral Committee chairman is from Argungu LGA.
Apart from coming from the same state, they don’t share any relationship. It was the National Working Committee that collated the nominations from the six geopolitical zones. From there, we looked at the antecedents, experience and other attributes needed for one to be a leader of the PCRC. Alhaji Suleiman Marafa Argungu is a retired Assistant Controller General of Corrections. In terms of qualifications, exposure and experience, he has an edge over all other electoral committee members. That was why he was appointed to lead the committee. By age also, he is older than all of them. He is the zonal chairman of Zone 14 comprising Katsina and Kaduna.”
Garo also threw light on how the next chairman was chosen: “For the national chairman, we had two contestants initially. One from the North and the other from the South, specifically Ogun State. Alhaji Abdullahi Awudu Paiko from Niger State (Jaruman Minna) was the northern contestant while Alhaji Ibrahim Mogaji Olaniyan was the contestant from Ogun State.
“Since inception, the northern region has been leading the PCRC at national level. In other not for the South to feel sidelined, and knowing that it would create a kind of problem, the northern caucus agreed that power should shift to the South, to give the Southern part the opportunity to lead. Alhaji Mogaji was the only aspirant that contested from the South. When the Northern Caucus met, we convinced Jaruman Minna to step down for Mogaji, so that we can have one single candidate.”
Faruk, who is in the eye of the storm brewing over the November 29, took exceptions to allegations that the current leadership change process happens to be the first time that individuals vying for office would be required to pay a fee, to qualify to contest.
Reacting to the claim in a telephone chat with Sunday Sun, his voice crisp and tight, Faruk, who retired as a Permanent Secretary in charge of Security Matters in Kebbi State, said: “That is not correct. What we said is that people who want to contest must buy nomination form because organising an election costs money. The PCRC as a voluntary organisation does not collect any subvention or grant from the government. So, it has to source money from its members. That’s the only reason people are required to buy the nomination forms. This is not the first time that we are requiring interested contestants to buy nomination forms.
“The logistics of organising election costs money. Besides, the PCRC Constitution empowers us to charge levies on members, collect fees and receive grants. But we have not been getting grants because of the budgetary constraints on the federal and state governments.”
On this score, he has the strong support of Ambassador Joel: “The critics of the outgoing chairman must be constructive. I say this because no organisation stands the test of time in this prevailing economic harship and finally survives it without the use of money. During the election, won’t there be chairs for the guests? Is it out of place or practice if the guests are entertained with light refreshments? You mean they should not drink water? The special guest of honour like the President and/or his trusted representatives shouldn’t be lodged? The venue shouldn’t be paid for? Publicity like print and electronic media including fliers and posters should not be contracted to publicise the programme? All these aforementioned items and others require money. It is, therefore, conventional for the contestants to part with something, but that should be moderate.”
Moreover, Faruk in short order, dismissed concerns that the process for the emergence of qualified contestants was not straightforward, and thus caused the loud rumbles of protests and condemnation.
“Nobody is protesting against anything because the constitution is very explicit that any member who is financially up-to-date, according to Article 19 of the PCRC is free to contest. Nobody is stopping anybody from contesting. Every interested, registered member of PCRC, who is financially up-to-date is free to contest for a position of his or her choice provided such has submitted a duly filled nomination form with evidence of payment.”
Though it was gathered that the position of publicity secretary was zoned to Edo State, Farouk stoutly declared to the contrary: “Absolutely not. There is no provision for zoning in PCRC, we are not a political party.”
FARUK gives self pass mark
Looking back at the 14 years he has been national chairman, Faruk believes that he has earned good marks considering his achievements.
The major achievements recorded by PCRC under his leadership include the establishment of the Police Trust Fund, for the purpose of ensuring proper funding of police activities.
He noted also that the PCRC has been established in rural communities across the country, to enhance intelligence gathering, to assist the police and other security agencies.
Setting agenda for next chairman
To sustain PCRC as a national body, Ambassador Joel counselled that the mantle of leadership should be rotatory.
“At this point, I hasten to suggest for the review of PCRC constitution with a view to addressing all the gray areas with special reference to the leadership rotation. It must be spelt out who should take what and at what period,” he said.
Bridge Builder chimes in: “PCRC has existed for 38 years. Therefore it ought to have created massive awareness of people knowing their rights at the grassroots level.
“The man who is going in as the next chairman knows what to do, but my fear is that he may end up commercialising the organisation. That is my real fear. All the other contestants angling for position have no track record of what they have done in the past. The consensus chairman has track records of performance and is not personally pleased with what is happening.
“What is central to leadership is the ability to mobilise, ability to understand and interpret the vision of an organisation. The sad thing is that the outgoing chairman completely lacks the ability to create and initiate things, mobilise and motivate 101 percent.”
