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• You’ll be treated as a criminal if you invade forests without governors’ approval
• We wanted to respond during bandits’ attacks on Kwara, but we were told not to come
By Christy Anyanwu
Iba Gani Adams is a prominent Nigerian activist, National Coordinator of the Oodua people’s Congress (OPC) and the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, the traditional generalissimo of the Yoruba race.
Known for his bold stance on social justice and advocacy, Iba Gani Adams has been making waves in Nigerian politics and society due to his bold approach to political issues and governance.
Being one of the strong advocate for state policing, Sunday Sun approached him on his stance with the newest development in Nigeria security situation.
What are your thoughts on the recent moves by President Bola Tinubu regarding the security situation in the country, especially his directive to the National Assembly on state policing?
I think it’s a good effort to agree on creation of state police, and task the National Assembly to legislate on it on the basis of constitutional amendment. To me, it’s is a welcome development.
It’s one of the major problems Nigeria is having because the security structure at the grassroots is not there. If you don’t allow the community to police themselves it will be very difficult for us to have very good security in Nigeria.
It’s could be in two ways. Either the state police will be the community network security or the state police will have a structure in every local government, recruited by the indigenes of that local government. This is very important.
If we have state police in place, our security situation will not be as bad as this. Assuming we have been running state police, even if it’s from the beginning of this administration, the terrorists will not gain ground like this because the community will have the power to police their state.
The governors, with the contribution from the local government in the allocation, will be able to fund the state police. The constitution is very clear. Even though the 1999 constitution still needs a lot of amendments, but in the constitution, we have the exclusive in the federal level, we have the concurrent in the state, and residual in the local government.
So, if this country is run according to these three tiers of government, definitely we will be able to move forward. So, I applaud Mr President for him to agree on state police.
And even the governors of the South West, the southern governors, and even the northern governors, everybody has realised that there is no way we can have effective security without state police. Even local government police.
If we have local government and state police, the federal police will complement the effort of the state police. The state police will complement the effort of the local government police. We don’t need to deceive ourselves; that’s the way forward.
We are now having the attention of the global community on the basis of security threats in Nigeria. So, we have to correct that impression so that we can encourage investors to this country. So, I give kudos to the president for agreeing on state police.
And secondly, the next is the devolution of power. Because if we are tackling insecurity, and there is no competition in the geo-political zones so that there can be a very good governance in the economy, the improvement in infrastructure, the improvement in electricity, and improvement in a lot of things that bring good governance, there will still be leakages. The leakages will still increase the crime rate. Because if you don’t eat two square meals in a day, definitely the tendency of becoming a criminal will be there. If you don’t have the opportunity to get quality education on the basis of giving Nigeria free education to the level of secondary school, and even supporting those who do not have resources to go to tertiary institutions, there will still be leakages.
By law, after graduating, you can be repaying that loan, when you secure employment you can be paying that loan for five years or seven years. That’s what some developed countries are doing. So, if you don’t give your citizens qualitative education, you are breeding criminals.
Thirdly, the issue of electricity, If you don’t allow 24-hour uninterrupted power, you are killing innovation in that country. If there is stable light, less payment of that light, not the type we have now, somebody living in a duplex must pay like three to four hundred thousand. How much is he earning as salary? If you allow a stable electricity, you will see that people will be more creative and there will be more innovation in the business sector. Investors will be happy to have business in that place because running generator with diesel is killing a lot of investments in this country. It is killing both the big and small investments in this country.
If you have a stable light you can be able to put CCTV in strategic places. CCTV and good cameras are one of the integral parts of security in every government. People will be careful to commit crime because there is no corner you move that the camera will not pick you. Definitely, there’s still a lot to do even beyond the issue of state police.
You are still talking about the state police issue. So what do you think should be the operational framework of the state police?
The agreement should be in the constitution. The operational framework will be from the security experts, people of integrity in every community, important personality in that community should be a reference for them to be recruited. And the royal fathers in that community should be a reference. So, if anything happens, the person should be called upon. We have to caution them that anybody you refer should be someone of integrity that has a very good family background. And the Amotekun outfit should be upgraded. They should be given more equipment and training. Amotekun is like a security outfit. The equipment they are using is too light to confront the kind of criminals we have, especially bandits and terrorists.
The National Assembly has passed a law of death penalty on kidnappers, their financiers and the informants. That is good on the basis of law but on the police angle, the state should not recruit on the basis of their own party. Look for a person of honesty, who can defend the state and the communities. Recruit them and give them the necessary training and orientation.
Being in the state police, you must not be partisan. The major job you have is to secure that state.
And some of the states should send their experts abroad, I am aware that there is state police in South Africa, in Brazil, in the United States. The state police in many countries, you send them on courses, so that you see how they are operating.
Security is not about the equipment. Sincerity is security. If they are not sincere, no matter the equipment they give to you to secure the people, you will still compromise with the criminals because of financial gain.
To guide against this, they should give them a very good salary. I read in the newspaper that even in the Nigerian Army, you are in Nigeria army for five years and your salary is 115,000.
When you are in the army for 15 years. They will give you 150,000
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Why? That money is too small. That money is too small.
Someone that will defend the territorial integrity of a country, you are giving them such an amount? Maybe such a person has two wives and five or six children. The children will be looking up to go to university. How will he send his children to school?
Someone in the Nigeria police and the army, the least they should be collecting should be equivalent of 150-200 dollars a month. If you pay them very well they will not compromise. If you don’t pay our security, even our army very well, they won’t work on the basis of the standard of that organisation or agency.
You have to pay them very well so that they will not be collecting bribe. Look at the living standard of today, you will spend more than 50 dollars to eat. Go to any restaurant today, the least you will spend is N2,500 to eat. Not talking of clothes, transportation, and housing, if they are not living in the barracks. In fact, 150 dollars a month is not enough as one month’s salary. No. 150 dollars cannot even be enough.
Take care of your meal. Your food. I am not talking about clothes. I am not talking about transport. I am not talking about house rent if they don’t give you a house in the barrack. So it is not enough. 150 dollars is not enough.
We should be looking at 300,000 monthly for anybody working in the system. That is 200 dollars. If we are working towards getting up to 500 dollars to 600 dollars per month, you will see most of our people outside the country will be coming back home.
So what are they doing there again? They will be coming back home. We have to look beyond the issue of security, the economy. We should do something to cushion the effects of the hardship on the standard of living of the average and the low income earners. And we should make sure that our policy is such that the different class will be taken care of. The upper class, the middle class and the lower class should be taken care of.
With Kwara State experiencing severe attacks from terrorists, what is your urgent call on South West governors?
What is happening in Kwara State is very bad. Not only in Kwara State, even in the Yoruba speaking area of Kogi State. Yoruba speaking area of Kwara and Kogi states, the attack is narrowed to the Yoruba speaking areas. The way the attack is going now they are trying to move into every boundary because we realise the attack was coming from Ondo, Ekpoma. We realised that their strategy is to lay siege to Yoruba land, even though we know they have already infiltrated our society but we are watching and monitoring them. And that is the reason we are working on unity in our group. With the back up of the security agencies, if necessary or in case of eventuality, we are trying to talk to our group to make sure there’s a plan B, for the security agencies to defend our lives and property in Yoruba land.
As Aare, a lot of people are looking up to you to take action as regards the mayhem in the South West. What is your take on that?
That goes to the table of the governor. The authorities. I have been calling on them for partnership on this security issues since last February. They refused.
Do you mean governors of the South West?
Yes. I even talked to one of the government agencies in Kwara State that we should be allowed to intervene. They said no.
When the issue of Babanla attack, Oke Ode happened, I called the chairman of the local government to ask if we could intervene? Alright, we are not even coming on security matter, let us come and hold a meeting in Babanla to show them we are ready to support you people. He said no, that we should not come. And I have written letters to the South West governors last February about partnership in security. No response. Next February should be two years now. I remember we were in Osogbo World Congress when two obas were killed. I wrote a letter to all the governors of South West that, let me use the structure I have to partner with you. Security does not lie on the hand of government alone
All hands must be on deck. They should create room for collaboration. For almost two years now, I have written but no response. I have a structure that is not less than five to six million people in Oodua People’s Congress and we have another group, South West Security Stakeholders that has 14 organisations affiliated to it. And another group, about seven organisations, Oodua Unity Groups are there. But the governors have not responded. They are holding the meetings and they are not calling me. So, It lies in the hands of the governors. It’s not my own fault. You cannot intrude into someone’s state without his approval, otherwise you will turn to a criminal. If anything happens anywhere in the state, you can’t mobilise 500 men, even though you are holding a dane gun and cutlasses. And the governor of the state did not agree with you, the local government chairman did not agree with you, they will round you up and turn you into a criminal and everything you hold to go and defend them, they will use all that to charge you. In the constitution, the governors are the chief security officers of their states. Local government chairmen are the chief security officer of the local governments, so you can’t just encroach into any community under their structure, their state and local government without their knowledge and agreement.
Are we praying it doesn’t come into Lagos?
They have infiltrated Lagos and all the South West states. They are bringing their people in every day. They are just strategizing when to strike. And they were striking in a minimal way in some parts of Ogun State. You saw what happened in Ijebu where an expatriate was kidnapped, two three expatriates kidnapped within a spate of one week. A lot of things happening but under-reported. Yesterday, an 18-passenger bus was attacked
They shot the driver in motion and the 18 passengers were taken to the bush kidnapped. Only one small child was left in that place in Akure. It’s in the social media. I suspected that the vehicle was going to Abuja. So every day you get bad news. Just open your social media and you get bad news. Bad news of kidnapping and killings.
Do you think death penalty for kidnappers is appropriate?
Honestly. What do you mean? It’s a welcome development. That’s a very good step from the lawmakers.
That’s a very good step. A lot of people are being killed. And those who kill people at will, the law must take its course. They are entitled to be given a death sentence through the court of law.
Those who are giving them the information and people financing them too, because kidnapping has become a lucrative business.
You can imagine the Irukwu scenario. They were asking for 100 million each for 38 people. And who knows how much they got to release them? And the Kebbi incident of 24 schoolchildren. Who knows how much they got to release them? They paid ransom.
That they escaped was a cajole. So, even some individuals pay ransom. It has become a lucrative business. More lucrative, even, than armed robbery. It has become a more lucrative business than mining. It has become more lucrative than even oil theft.
When some of them were apprehended, do you know how much raw cash they collected from them?
The security collected raw cash from them, sometimes between N200 and N300 million, in the bush, inside the forest. So, I agree and I support the lawmaker on the new law.
