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Ms Marilyn Ogar, the elegant, energetic, evasive and audacious former spokeslady of the State Security Service (SSS) was known for her apt responses after every press briefing while she held sway as the spokeslady of both her organisation and the umbrella body of security agencies during the tail part of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration. In those epic moments, the slogan “we are on top of the situation,” became a ringing phrase carefully injected and admitted into public consciousness.
In fact, it became a norm for every spokesman of security agencies to use it as a closing remark after every media briefing. Today, I want to re-awaken the slogan by asking all the security agencies that participated in the first round of the 2019 general election, which took place on February 23, whether they can beat their chest and reaffirm truely that they were on top of the security situation throughout the election.
Were they on top of the security situation? According to some of the international monitoring groups, the security agencies were substantially on top of the security situation. Which attracted commendation for their leaders.
On the other hand, some pockets of insecurity almost dented the police image, this time, however, not from the top but in execution of operational orders.
The election was partially marred by intimidation of the electorate, kidnappings, snatching and setting ablaze of election boxes and sporadic shooting at voting venues. These happened in Okota in Lagos State, Rivers State, Osun State, Bayelsa State and Imo State. All these were notable flashpoints known to all the security agencies. Flashpoints are no playground, neither are they regarded as areas for gesticulation. Rather, they are areas that security agencies map out as danger zones. Flashpoints are nerve-breakers, they usually keep security agencies on their toes because anything can happen. When a particular place is regarded as a flashpoint, its an indication that the area is predominantly a troublesome area. A flashpoint is an indication about the spate of insecurity that could be anticipated in such a place.
There is no police officer that does not know and understand the full implication of what “flashpoint” stands for. Indeed flashpoints are critical areas that need total alertness and vigilance.
It is based on this understanding that one is disturbed about the spate of violence that eclipsed parts of the aforementioned states. The question on the lips of every security observer is, “how come both the divisional police officers (DPO) and the area command police officers were not able to effectively handle the skirmishes that took place under their jurisdiction? The blame should fall squarely on their table. There is no other appropriate word to describe their shameful outing than to append the word “gross incompetence,” which should follow with the issuing of query to be served on each of the commanding officers. After all, there was an operational order issued to them, and bundle them back to police colleges for retraining.
A closer appraisal of the incident at Okota in Lagos, where it was allegedly reported that the first time the thugs showed up, there was little resistance from the unarmed police men on ground. Unfortunately, minutes after the thugs escaped, policemen on guard were allegedly recalled, which created an opening for the thugs to regroup and storm the venue, forcefully carting away the ballot boxes. The policemen and their commanders knew that the election was not only a national assignment but one that would attract the attention of the global community and the hundreds of foreign observers and journalists.
It is high time commanding officers were held responsible for every irresponsible act perpetrated under their jurisdictions and gross negligence. The Okota Palace incident should serve as a warning. Being on top of the situation means that all the I’s have been dotted and every anticipated insecurity points adequately nipped in the bud. Even as responsible and patriotic Nigeria are grieving and fuming over the unfortunate killing of a military lieutenant in Rivers State and the deadly assault on a deputy superintendent of police in Brass, Bayelsa State, who was on official national assignment, it is appropriate to ask if these officers strayed into the waiting hands of these deadly thugs or how come they were not “on top of the security situation” under their jurisdiction? One wonders how these senior officers could “stray” into these evil hands unprotected by their colleagues.
Being “on top of the situation” means that one should activate his eagle eyes and be agile like a lion. A study of these animals clearly re-inforces the agility and alertness of the eagle and lion. Interestingly, the IGP has roundly denounced the barbaric and uncivilised attacks against police officers performing their legitimate duties.
It is painful to hear of the death of uniformed officers; every well-meaning patriot should also condemn such untoward and barbaric act. The lesson emerging from the killing of the army officer and the manhandling of the DSP is the necessity for better strategy and upgrading the operational acumen of not only low-ranking uniformed men and women but also senior officers.
Thuggery and violence are not new in the lexicon of security agencies, what is new is their latest modus operandi, almost alien to our security agencies. There is the need to better research on the personality camouflaging as mordern day “thugs” and their sponsors.
It is rather unfortunate that certain operational devices of the police that used to be “intelligence-driven” are almost obsolete, if not, one would ask, how come the police and SSS have not deemed it fit and appropriate to uncover those behind the mordern-day “thugs” and those behind them, including the source of their arms and ammunition?
Election security hot numbers.
*Report any electoral malpractice and misconduct to any of these security agencies’ hot lines:
*DSS: 07055655591/ 09030002189 or email dss.gov.ng
*Police: Abuja (FCT) – 08037002990
Lagos – 08023081301
Rivers – 08021001313
Akwa-Ibom – 08023313280
Cross River – 08037002102
Delta – 08173918368
*Army: 08099900131/09060005290
*Civil Defense: 08036171885/07030647190/08036223627/08034984016/08033711199
