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Sheikh Gumi’s boldness in reaching out to these criminals, bandits and herdsmen, coupled with his vexed passion towards them set tongues to wag and question why he has not been invited by any of the security agencies in the country, even when he queried why anyone, especially the government, should paint them as criminals when it did not provide any social amenity for them. Said he, “No school, no hospital for their families, instead they would send the army to kill their families in the forest.”
According to Sheikh Gumi, “These killings, no doubt, would harden them and they will increase their kidnapping activities.”
He advised the Federal Government to “change their modus operadi in relating with them.”
He claimed there was symbiotic relationship between herdsmen and Boko Haram fighters: “ These boys exchange information every time.”
The interview evidently portrayed Gumi as a religious leader with no regard for the rule of law neither does he have regard for morality and respect for constituted authority. Psychologists would say passion “is a very intense emotion, but can be positive or negative. Negatively, it may be unpleasant at times. It could involve pain and has obsessive forms that can destroy.”
Unknown to Gumi , the larger members of the society who had lost their friends and family members would shudder at his utterances and unfortunate, unpatriotic passion towards these killers ravaging every nook and cranny of the country, unleashing mayhem on innocent Nigerians. The sheikh is like any other religious leader whose reasoning is at variance with the government that was constitutionally elected by the supreme will of God and is mandated to protect the same people Gumi’s friends are attacking and killing mercilessly. The sheikh would have been a hero if he had presented himself as a patriotic citizen either preaching with a view to convert these criminals to become reformed citizens or passing information to security agents, rather than his present role of a media advocate.
(Concluded)
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Nigerians, see something, say and do something (1)
“Nigerians should be more vigilant.”
– President Muhammadu Buhari
Three decades back, as a young crime/security reporter nosing around security circles for exclusive news, I stumbled on a unique security quote in one of the offices at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, Lagos. The quote, “Whatever you see here, hear here, leave it here.”
Each time I stepped into the vicinity of Alagbon, which at the time was a dreaded security area, having carved a niche for itself among other security agencies in Nigeria, that quote resonated in my mind, playing the role of a guardian angel as I carried out my daily reporting assignments. At times, people find it difficult to report any criminal to the police, except otherwise, when police secure the services of paid informants.
However, security has evolved and even security managers have over the years solicited cooperation from members of the public to freely provide credible information about the activities of criminals to them. In the heat of public misconception of police relationship with members of the public, especially university students and labour leaders, Mr. Tunji Alapini, who retired as an Assistant Inspector General of Police, but once served as one of the most outstanding spokesmen of the Nigeria Police, created a memorable cliche, “The police is your friend.”
It was then understood that once the public could accept the police as a “friend,” they would be ready to freely provide credible information about the activities of criminals. A lot needs to be done to foster a good relationship between members of the public and security agents, especially the police. There is a gulf between the police and the public. Each time an effort is made to close the gap, something unfortunate helps to further widen it. What is often noticeable like a sea wave that flushes its bowel’s content to the seashore are some of the junior rank policemen who had joined the force with varying levels of unamenable character later exhibited in the line of duty, and this dictates how society perceives the entire police. No wonderAlapini’s efforts were later scuttled when former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on a security report, quickly screamed to high heavens that the police force was recruiting potential armed robbers.
Unfortunately, the recruitment exercise has always been dressed in controversy to the detriment of the country. The result is what the country witnessed during the last nationwide agitation by Nigerian youths through the #EndSARS protests. The inability of past leaders of the Nigeria Police, under the sacked IGP Muhammad Adamu to thoroughly examine and dissect the root cause and proffer a lasting solution, has exposed his shallowness in understanding the philosophy of intricate situation like the EndSARS agitation. Facing the country are the unpacked security debris of the unresolved secessional agitation that has led to the renewed killing of several policemen and the burning and destruction of government structures like those belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (lNEC), whose 42 buildings were set ablaze of recent. The country is faced with myriads of criminal activities and at the receiving end are innocent members of the society.
They can no longer freely go out to fend for themselves and their families. Even the security agencies seem overwhelmed and unprepared to provide protection. Observers believe that the police need to dust up the operational books and restudy the Alapini strategy of winning the people to believe in their police.
Also, the police should also stop the all-out aggression, by borrowing a leaf from Sir Mike Okiro’s “Meet Them at their Camp” approach, which was the wisdom used to resolve the Niger Delta agitation, which culminated in their massively surrendering their arms that later attracted the President Musa Yar’Adua amnesty to the militants. Among the issues of agitation in the eastern part of the country is their non-inclusion in the national scheme of things, almost similar that of the Niger Delta agitation.
If the Ya’Aadua administration that is civilian can wisely use the carrot-and-stick strategy, one would have expected President Buhari, who, incidentally, is of the same state as the late President Yar’Adua, to copy his strategy and bring to a conclusive end the eastern agitation. It is very clear that the stick approach cannot resolve this raging fire of agitation in the eastern states of the country.
Only the carrot approach, which is generally referred to as “dialogue” can bring the desired, lasting solution that would eventually rain peace on the country. When this result-oriented approach is implemented, and there is noticeable decline in insecurity, then would Nigerians see something, say and do something in their community, as their own contribution , sequel to the the demand of President Buhari.
(To be continued)
