By Kassim Afegbua
The appointment of the new Inspector General of Police did not come as a surprise after all, following public outcry that the immediate past IGP had reached his professional nadir and cannot offer anything new or creative to checkmate the menacing force of unreason of members of Boko Haram.

The termination of appointment of the seven Deputy Inspectors General of Police to pave way for the new ombudsman does not offer us any justification that we are truly nurturing a system to sustain our hard-earned democracy.

The human capital waste embedded in that action alone and the colossal loss to the nation of the services of these men leave something to ponder about. Do we have to sack people who are not due for retirement simply because we needed the services of someone whom we expect to provide the magic wand to solve all our problems by mere appointment?

M D ABUBAKAR, IGP

For just one appointment, we had eight casualties; seven DIGs and one IGP who was already on his way out of the service. I do not think that sounds plausible.

M.D ABUBAKAR’S CHALLENGES

The expectations of Nigerians from the new  helmsman for the Police Force are very high and we just have to pray that the new man is able to discharge his responsibilities with equanimity of purpose. For one, I do not see him as a new appointment except that this is just a promotion that places him at the topmost ladder of the Police. Once anyone attains the rank of a Commissioner of Police, I am told the rest appointments become a matter of politics.

And for any officer at that top echelon, he is expected to be part of the larger plot to create a more efficient policing system to manage the challenges confronting the Force. The new man therefore must have been part and parcel of the ex-IGP team that was confronted with the daunting challenge of nipping the Boko Haram menace in the bud.

If he had had any magic wand, I am sure he would gladly have offered it before now through the ex-IGP. I don’t want to sound pessimistic here but I am one of the select few who do not believe that the mere appointment of just one man will turn around the fortunes of the Police in terms of combating crimes and other vices. If that happens, I will be one of those voices that would call for his national award.

As it is, Nigerians are expecting to see the end of Boko Haram activities today or before long with the appointment of MD Abubakar. That will be placing too much on the man’s shoulder. He will be inheriting the same Police Force like his predecessor in office, a Force that is unmotivated with out-of-fashion security systems that is expected to perform wonders. In fact, meeting up with the sophistication of crimes these days require more than just an eagle eye.

The terrorist is usually one step ahead of any security formation. He thinks faster than we do and since the terrorist’s subject matter is to unleash pains, destruction and damage on the society with such measured assuredness to die, he is not granted to reason the way the rest of us would. Once he is able to inflict pains while donating his own life, he feels a measure of success and satisfaction.

For any effective policing, the government of the day must be ready to reinvest in the Police Force and ensure as a matter of urgent national importance that measures are put in place to checkmate the scourge of corruption in the Force. The personnel must be motivated, the equipment must be updated; the gadgets must be up-to-date while the psyche of the average Police man must be one that is re-oriented to suit the dynamics of our present challenges.

We should not make the mistake of seeing the fight against Boko Haram menace as a measure of performance of the Police Force, while leaving other areas of crimes unattended to. If the Police are under-funded, there has to be new thinking to improve on the funding. If there is pervasive corruption in the system, measures have to be taken to reduce the incidences of it. If there is need for re-training, efforts must be made to do that.

There has to be a conscious effort to rebuild a new Police Force that will be self-motivated to do the job to the admiration of all. The reward system in the Police has to change. The families of those who lost their loved ones while on national duty must be rewarded adequately in order to stimulate and motivate others who are still in the system.

It is not for nothing that one sees a Police man collecting tips and bribes on legal and illegal check-points with such ferocity; it is the society that produces a system that suits it. We have heard of cases of Police killing hapless citizens simply because of N20. Under a system that is working and corrective, such bestiality cannot flourish.

BOKO HARAM AND M.D ABUBAKAR.

I have read a few comments by some Nigerians who are criticizing the choice of M.D Abubakar as the new helmsman of Police, on account of his “partisan” role in handling the Jos crisis and a couple of other crises. It is not out of place for people to express their reservations, but at the top echelon of the Police, he will not be the only man to do the job. By virtue of his position, he will be expected to provide the leadership that will motivate the about 280,000 members of the Police Force.

He will be expected to create a new road map that will signpost his mission. He will be expected to reinvent a system that has nurtured him since 1979 till date and possibly offer something different to make dysfunctional system functional. Going full blast to confront members of the Boko Haram might not be the ready solution to a body that parades several martyrs’ waiting to breath their last on this putrid plane.

It is always a difficult fight when you    are confronted with a suicide bomber or someone that is prepared to die. Rather than run for his dear life, he runs to embrace death as a confirmed candidate for only God knows paradise. Such mentality does not give room for reason and logic. It is a battle that defies any logic hence the new IGP must go beyond the usual routine of sending cracked teams to confront Boko Haram. He must employ the use of dialogue once notable members of the group are identified or known.

From the revelations of the spiritual head of the sect, Mallam Shekau on the issue of heeding the pleas of some Islamic Clerics on the Kano attack, it means that there is a contact between the sect members and some members of the public. The Police must find ways of reaching members of the sect through those clerics in order to avoid confrontation with its predictable human and material casualties.

I don’t want us to come up with the solid impression that M.D Abubakar will be the solution to the security challenges facing the country. Putting so much on his shoulders might also be the man’s undoing. I have seen him talking tough on the television, warning against corruption and laziness; the usual rhetoric one might say.

Beyond those tough talks, he should quickly put on his thinking cap and come up with rewarding solutions to our security challenges; armed robberies, kidnapping, Boko Haram, communal crises, and a host of other crimes that have crippled the system. He should be able to learn a few tips from where his predecessor failed and come up with collaborative efforts that will create the right synergy for a coordinated and effective security system. Boko Haram operations and nefarious activities are becoming more and more coordinated and sophisticated.

The Police must therefore be more proactive rather than reactive  in its effort at combating this crime. The Police must possess listening ears to the demands of the sect especially those demands that are reasonable to the sane mind. Drawing a battle line between the Police and the members of Boko Haram will only compound the scenarios and further make a simple simultaneous equation to assume a quadratic dimension.

AMNESTY FOR BOKO HARAM?

I read a statement credited to the Honourable Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives Hon. Aminu Tambuwal that members of the Boko Haram should be given amnesty in order to commence the process of dialogue and finding a permanent solution to this perennial problem. The fact that the activities of the Boko Haram members have defied any solution and security check, also goes to suggest that there is a missing link.

That obvious missing link could be filled by the offer of amnesty suggested by the Speaker. All that we wish for is a discontinuation of these prevalent attacks and create a platform where government could engage the members in dialogue. The option of war, war as declared by the new IGP is not an incentive to resolving this problem. We want peace and stability. We want peaceful co-existence and not slogans of war and dismemberment.

What should occupy our minds is a process that would lead to stability and peace. I do not think anyone would be persuaded by any argument of going to another round of war after our previous experience. No nation can survive two civil wars. If the offer of Amnesty is what the members of Boko Haram would cherish and embrace, President Jonathan should declare amnesty for them and commence the process of dialogue and rehabilitation.

It is pretty difficult fighting with a man who has agreed to die. It is going to be a no-win battle and the earlier we borrowed experiences from other climes the better. I wish M.D Abubakar the best of luck. He should learn to talk less and do more. His bold declaration of war with members of the Boko Haram might be counter-productive. Dialogue is a good option, amnesty is a better one, both dialogue and amnesty is best.