The Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai has just effected a change of name of the routine military exercises that the Nigerian Army usually organise in South East of Nigeria just as it simultaneously host same exercises in the other regions with peculiar code names to reflect the symbolism of the military exercise.
In the South East, it used to be Operation Egwu Eke or Python dance (which was seen as declaration of war by most persons even when these fears may not be properly anchored in some phases of this exercise in the past) but now to be called Exercise Atilogwu Udo meaning operation Dance for peace.
This is phenomenal and this should do a lot more to win public support especially if the Army operatives respect human rights and help to fix some broken infrastructure in the East.
For instance, the Army engineering department can be deployed to fix one or two of the many collapsed roads infrastructures in the South East of Nigeria.
To the issue of the legal necessity for public support of a law based war on terror and promotion of national security, I wish to emphasise that Terrorism and insecurity are twin evils which have bedeviled the Nigerian State for a prolonged period now.
Although the term “terrorism” has posed legal definition challenge, its peculiar characteristics manifest in motive founded on ideology, identifiable by signature violence and targets primarily intended to compel compliance.
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed Resolution 1373 which required member states to make not only terrorism a serious crime in domestic legislation along with terrorists funding and but also other ancillary offences.
The first direct attempt at tackling the problem was included in some sections of the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004.
A comprehensive Terrorism Bill was proposed at the National Assembly 2005 but did not pass into law. However, the situation changed with the passage of the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011 which was amended in 2013 (referred herein as TPA).
Be that as it may, the problem of Nigeria is not the lack of applicable laws in the different spheres but lack of proper or outright non-implementation. This is so much a norm that it is said our laws are better observed in breach. Government and the public cannot be on different levels of operation and expect to have a sane society, more so that the twin evils of terror and insecurity are largely by products of people-government interaction and to a large extent a measure of the state of health of the relationship. This makes this discourse a most relevant one at this time of our national life.
Legal Necessity of Public Support
No policy of government succeeds without public support. The war on terror is no exception. The primary way in which the law advocates support for the war on terror is the proscription of support for terrorism. Section 4(1) of the TPA provides that a person who knowingly, in any manner, solicits or renders support for an act of terrorism or a proscribed organization or an internationally suspected terrorist group, commits an offence under the Act and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a maximum term of 20 years and a sentence of death where death results from the terror. It is interesting that support for terrorism is defined under subsection 3(c) to include offer or provision of moral assistance.
It is in recognition of the need to support the fight against terrorism and promote national security that in the case of Achem v. F.R.N. (2014) LPELR-23202 (CA), the Court of Appeal per EKANEM, JCA at pages 16-17, paras. F-A held thus:
“It should be mentioned that the applicant was convicted and sentenced for offences relating to terrorism which in recent times have grown in intensity and magnitude, and have become a threat to our national security. Courts should therefore be very circumspect in granting bail pending appeal to a person convicted for any offence relating thereto.”
Similarly, in the case of Dokubo-Asari v. F.R.N. (2007) 12 NWLR (Pt. 1048) 320, 358-359, the Supreme Court gave its nod of approval to the refusal to grant bail pending trial to the Appellant on ground, inter alia, of threat to national security.
The public must become decisive about terror by not only not supporting terrorists but also being willing to support the war.
Law based War on Terror and Promotion of National Security
In the same vein the government must engage in a law based war by enforcing anti-terrorism laws.
Emmanuel Onwubiko,
Abuja