SECURITY ESTABLISHMENT AND OUR CIVIC FREEDOMS

 Security agencies must maintain a balance between guaranteeing civil liberties and upholding the integrity of the state, argues ST JOHN CLARK

 Perhaps because the military dominated the political space in Nigeria from 1966 to 1999 excepting an interregnum from 1979 to 1983, the security establishment has been somewhat over-characterized. Size is not significance but our Police have no less than 300,000 men. And although growing insecurities can now be invoked to justify its present size, the rise of the Nigerian military from a tidy 7000 in 1965 to now over 230,000 men under arms is truly remarkable. It is arguably one of the largest uniformed combat services in the entire African continent. From a colonial army, it became a defence vehicle for our nationhood from 1960 and from 1966 it took over political power and consequent complications threw the military and the nation into a fratricidal war from 1967 to 1970. Wars are ugly and its bestialities are perhaps inevitable. The security establishment produced glitches, now and again , brazen enough to deserve exemplary military sanction , some of them supervised by foreign observers. The war ended 53 years ago and the Nigerian security establishment now wears a new face.

However one of its most fascinating departments is its secret service. In war, in peace and even in cohabitation with other entities it has had a storied existence and deserves to be kept under close scrutiny. It is heir to a legacy of services which have sometimes mocked global best practices. Under General Buhari’s military government Nigeria’s security organization was infamously headed by Alhaji Rafindadi. It was only after Ibrahim Babangida took over, that his new Inspector General of Police Alhaji Gambo Jimeta took journalists on a tour of Rafindadi’s gulag. That tour exposed some of the vilest rights abuses of the Buhari government; we can recall also the nervous security dynamics of the Abacha years when state crimes and entrapment were vended like articles of petty trade! Under its rubric, both the innocent and the guilty were tarred with one brush. The worst excesses are now probably over. However our Secret Services have broken bounds from their established order, taken on strange obligations and operating not in sleuth but in brazen sunlight. Impunity stalks the land. But we have had days of innocence. The Department of State Services (DSS) is the primary domestic intelligence agency of Nigeria. It is primarily responsible for intelligence gathering within the country and for the protection of senior government officials, particularly the President and State Governors. The DSS operates as a Department within the Presidency and is under the National Security Adviser. The DSS has however not only taken on a new character, it has also lost a considerable part of its confidential rigor and sometimes operates as if it is alien to the Presidency. Nothing exemplifies this deconstruction more impressively than its well-publicized bizarre joust with Ibrahim Magu, the former Chairman of the EFCC. In 2016 President Buhari submitted Magu’s name to the Senate for confirmation as Chairman of the EFCC.

Strangely the DSS submitted a hostile security report which disabled the Senate from approving the nomination. From then on, Magu became a marked man and was actually hunted down. Magu was arrested by the DSS in July 2020, following a spectacular chase and stunt driving which bewildered commuters and residents in Abuja. Several colorful allegations were thrown at Magu but none seemed to stick. Even the Ayo Salami panel set up to probe Magu, appears to have become tongue-tied. The EFCC on this matter, now wears the garb of a failed oracle! But the department, never short of fancies, has now settled its gaze on the Central Bank of Nigeria. Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele has long been in the sight of the DSS. It is not clear where Emefiele lost the script but some suggest that his attempt to join the APC presidential primaries did not help matters. But late last year, the DSS dropped the mask and actually sought judicial warrant to arrest Emefiele. The court refused. The rumor mills suggested he was wanted on several grounds including a charge of supporting terrorism. After several backs and forths Emefiele was finally arrested last month and after sustained outcry he is being charged to court for, of all things, illegal possession of fire arms. After all the tense speculations, the ground on which Emefiele is to be charged, has the ring of a squib. However apart from Emefiele, other arrests have been made, some of them on grounds of friendship and consanguinity. There is notably the case of the arrest and detention by the DSS of the Sarkin Hausawa of Lagos, Alhaji Aminu Yaro, and his wife, Saadiatu Aminu Yaro who have been held without charge or trial for weeks now. The Sarkin Hausawa has had a long history of business success and himself enjoys a long line of friendship with the eminent and successful. Friendship with successful people cannot be a condition for criminality. He has passion for charity and philanthropy. President Tinubu has a huge reputation as an activist democrat. He more than others understands that the security service ought to be an important plank in the defence of a free society and its civil liberties. But security should not exceed its remit and a clear balance must be maintained between guaranteeing civil liberties and upholding the integrity of the state. Our DSS may now and again have overreached itself, sometimes mistaking regime protection for the advancement of national interest.

 President Tinubu points the way to a summit where glowing hope is renewed; the DSS on its part, forces us down a dark valley, and abused rights. Alhaji Aminu Yaro, the Sarkin Hausawa of Lagos and his wife must be released at once and taken to court if they are actionable charges against them. However diligence must be exercised on all sides to ensure political influence is not deployed in the presidency against objective ends. 

Clark writes from Lagos