Many years back, two known top-flight politicians from the Middle Belt area of Nigeria had a brawl that was fiercely contentious. Both of them were senior citizens, yet their political differences opened them up to a public showdown. Part of their media exchanges became quotable quotes.
One of such utterances sounded similar to the title of this column: “If you Tarka me, I will Daboh you.”
The bad blood that flowed in their veins prompted public utterances afterwards whenever there was a scuffle between two brothers, friends or colleagues: “You Tarka me, I Daboh you.” Simply put, it meant “an eye for an eye.”
Today, the scenerio between the police boss and the Senate President seems to be following the same pattern with the Godwin Daboh and J S Tarka case;You invite me, l invite you.
The scenario between Daboh and Tarka was political. The present case, this time around, has the trappings of a security confrontation. Security is a medium to exercise power, more powerful than politics. But security also exists under the ambience of politics. However, a chained trained dog cannot exercise its potential. Politicians have the instrument to control the security of a country by relying on the Constitution from which they derive their power. Even at that, politicians rely on security to be better appreciated. Without doubt, the effectiveness of security is fully dependent on powers derived from the Constitution.
The recent power play between the police boss, Mr. lbrahim Idris, and the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has been interesting and needs more careful analysis. The entire scenario appears indeed like a movie script from Nollywood.
The year 2018 has witnessed numerous security drama, with more of the drama still unfolding. The recent police-Saraki drama provided added evidence to many observers that Nigeria is a movie playground, where epic events unfold unexpectedly.
The police IG vs Senate President matter began in the May 2018 when the Senate sent several invitations to the IGP to appear before the Senate Sub-committee on Police Affairs over the large-scale insecurity and killings around the country, especially in the Middle Belt.
The case took a turn for drama when, instead of obediently heeding the invitation from the Senate, the IGP flagrantly snubbed the upper legislative body by delegating the deputy inspector-general of police in charge of operations. The snobbish stand of the IGP made leaders of the upper legislative body to visit the President to formally lodge a complaint about Idris. Soon after the meeting with the President, Senate President Saraki, who could not bear the affront of the police boss, openly described him as “a threat to democracy,” adding further that he was not fit to hold any national or international position. After his outburst, Saraki must have thought that he had won the battle by hitting ldris below the belt. Unknown to Saraki, the battle had just begun. Saraki certainly did not know that security men are better strategists than politicians and, like a leopard, they can wait for days or months monitoring their prey before pouncing on it. That is why police investigations can last for years. It might interest Saraki to know that Idris had spent decades as a mobile police officer before serving as a United Nations peacekeeping officer. A man with such experience cannot be a pushover in strategic maneuvering. Except that Nigerians are not benefitting from such experience. Saraki also forgot that it was the same Idris that President Buhari complained to the elders of Benue State that his appointee disobeyed his directive. After Saraki’s castigation, the time soon came when it looked like the game had changed, with the report that the police in Kwara were able to track down the robbers who carried out the deadly robbery in Offa, where it was reported that 30 persons lost their lives. Idris did not waste any time to pounce on his prey, to take his his pound of flesh. He immediately directed that the robbery suspects be transferred to Abuja for detailed investigation when he was briefed that one of the robbers had mentioned the name of Saraki in his preliminary statement. Idris must have remembered how Saraki used his office to tarnish his image. Now it was his own turn to also invite the Senate President.
It was the reported arrest of some armed robbers in Saraki’s home state that eventually provided Idris the expected move to pounce on the Senate President. While the interrogation was still on, facts emerged from the police that the Senate President was somehow connected to some of the robbers, who, in their statement, had confessed that the vehicle used for the robbery was a gift from both the sitting governor and the Senator.For good measure, the police said there was a Saraki sticker on the vehicle.
The suspects wagged their tongues like a canary bird as they further alleged to have been supplied with firearms by a retired police officer also connected withthe Senate President and the Kwara State governor. Sequel to their confessional statements, a press statement was immediately issued plus a press conference, and the Senate President was invited to report at the Police Headquarters to write his statement and state all that he knew about the robbers and their operations that led to the death of innocent Nigerians in Kwara.
The police debunked the allegations by Saraki of underlying intentions to implicate him in the case. Still, the police added that it would not be cowed by anyone, no matter how highly placed. These not withstanding, if it is proved that Saraki sat with the suspects to plan the robbery, then the police has a big fish in its net. But if the car was a gift from Saraki, it should be assertained when exactly the car was given to any of the boys. Also, it should be ascertained what work the boys did for Saraki to attract the gift. One is concerned on why the robbery case should be transferred to Abuja when there are state and zonal commands in Kwara State, where competent officers exist to carry out the investigation and interrogation. If ldris has no hidden agenda, why such very sharp and prompt reaction in this case? Herdsmen have killed more persons in Benue and all over the country, yet Nigerians have not seen such rapid move in tracking them down, not to talk of transferring the few arrested herdsmen’s case files (if any) to the Force Headquarters. Not until the killer herdsmen are nabbed would one see ldris as an efficient and neutral police officer.
Indeed, security most often intoxicates and it intoxicates mostly those in uniform, who are bereft of sound ideas.
The Offa robbery case is one that a divisional police officer (DPO) or area command can effectively handle. The hullabaloo created around the case is completely unnecessary.
Had there been a state police in place, such uproar would not have been necessary.