By: UGO ONUOHA
THE Nigerian Police exhibits the features of a criminal enterprise. Every such business or group shows characteristics which enables it to operate effectively often without being caught by the law. In broad terms every criminal enterprise has organisational structure, hierarchy, chain of command, and division of labour. It also engages in illicit activities, generates revenue, usually dark money, extortion, money laundering, and it exploits vulnerabilities of individuals, businesses and institutions. A typical underworld business maintains secrecy on what it does, uses deception to distract, and has mastery of code of silence.
Firms or institutions that are into shady dealings do not hesitate to deploy violence and intimidation or the threats thereof to maintain control and discipline. They are also usually nimble so as to quickly adapt to changing circumstances, laws, and law enforcement strategies. Criminal enterprises are adept at bribing and corrupting everything in their way, infiltrating legitimate institutions either to launder money or to gather intelligence. As may be needed they apply influence peddling to shape policy or decision – making. Any country that has a sizable number of criminal enterprises operating within its borders is damned. And any society that is grappling with state agencies that have turned into rogue or criminal enterprises is doomed. Sadly, Nigeria falls into this later category.
Almost all strata of enterprise Nigeria is a criminal set up. The executive arms of government at all levels are studies in perfidy and all that they should not be. Across the Nigerian state and at the centre, the legislatures do not exist in reality as co-equal branches of the government. They are tied to the apron strings of the governors in the states and the president in Abuja, respectively. The judiciary is no better. The Supreme Court is leprous. It’s the same spectacle down to the lowest rung of courts. Justices and judges and magistrates now publicly cavort with, and receive favours from politicians, armed robbers and con artists better known as 419ners. A former chief justice of Nigeria enjoyed lavish banquet dates with notorious politicians while he was the CJN. In fact he once publicly and unabashedly promoted and supported the fractionalisation of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). While still the CJN he gave thumbs up to five PDP governors that worked to sabotage their party to benefit his kinsman who was a candidate in the then upcoming 2023 presidential election.
The current CJN, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun appears not to be overly concerned about how she’s perceived by the public. On October 21, 2024, she was loud in Abuja in the company of one of the loudest and controversial politician who is the federal capital territory minister, Nysome Wike, during the sod-turning ceremony for the construction of some housing units for judges in the territory. Until recently, that was not a common sight. Judges were virtually hermits in Nigeria in the past. In spite of themselves, judges studiously avoided such outings and sundry social gatherings even those organised by family members and acquaintances simply to avoid the perception of bias in their judicial functions. Not any more. Judges now frequently attend public social functions including owambe parties as a badge of honour, and status conferor. The other arm of the federal government, the national assembly (NASS) also reflects its leadership. It was in the public domain that the Senate president, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who is presently bersmiched with allegations of sexual harassment by his colleague, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, was dogged by allegations of fraud and potential trial in court before he was ‘head-hunted’ for the senate presidency. Until recently Nigerians didn’t know that the senate ethics committee is led by a man reported to be a fugitive from the law in the United States of America.
So, Nigeria’s senate is headed by a man with so much baggage to contend with. The judiciary by a woman who is alleged to be on a no-visa list of a super power, and who has no qualms in being found in the midst of a loquacious and controversial politician. For the headship of the executive branch, the compelling narrative will be the one offered prior to the 2023 election by a dyed-in-the-wool critic of presidential candidate, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Reno Omokri. He wrote on twitter on March 28, 2021 that: “The 2023 packaging of Bola Tinubu, a man of: Questionable name, Questionable wealth, Questionable education status, Questionable age, Questionable state of origin, Questionable US record, Questionable parentage, Questionable sobriety, Questionable religion, and Questionable hygiene”. Reno (Rent) Omokri has since become a turncoat which is legitimate. Only a dead person does not change his or her mind. Reno’s may be like Saul’s on the Damascus highway. And Reno’s reward may soon be handsome if the rumour mills are to be believed. Mr. Reno Omokri could soon become His Excellency, Ambassador Reno Omokri, Nigeria’s ambassador or high commissioner to wherever… Don’t worry about the message we could be passing to our children about rewarding scoundrels, turncoats and scammers. And people who do not really believe in anything.
If Nigeria is in a bad shape it’s because “mmiri siri n’isi gbaruo” or the stream was muddied from the fountainhead. As the Good Book says if the foundation be faulty, what can the righteous do? Every state institution has turned rogue. The armed forces whose generals steal monies voted for the foot soldiers, and the rank and file who are moles for Boko Haram militants and other terrorists. The judges who brazenly pervert justice and of whom the poet, Niyi Osundare, asked where he would keep their bribe money for them. Operatives of the directorate of state services (DSS) and other security agencies who pick up government critics on the whims but are incapable of locating and apprehending terrorists and bandits who regularly flaunt ransom monies on the social media. The Customs officers who allow goods into the country through our entry ports, and then go to the highways to mount roadblocks to seize the same wares or extort their owners. Customs even takes it further – they raid markets, shopping malls and vehicle arcades to impound ‘contrabands’ or legitimate imports with alleged duty underpayments. Such seized goods are rarely accounted for.
Perhaps, at the top of Nigeria’s rogue institutions is the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). It takes a hardened criminal agency and brigandage to do what the police have been trying to do after they were caught in their framing, detention, and attempt to prosecute a minor for armed robbery. Quadri Alabi was the Poster Boy of Peter Obi presidential campaign in 2023. The picture of his pose in front of the campaign convoy of Obi in Lagos captured the imagination of the country, nay the world. For doing that Alabi’s world was turned upside down. Earlier this year, some street urchins connived with the rogue police in Amukoko area of Lagos to put Alabi, 17 years, in jail. It took a whistleblower months to expose the crime by the police. But the police have a handful in activist and lawyer, Inibehe Effiong. After springing Alabi from our criminal justice system, Effiong gave it to the police last week. He wrote: “Our attention has been drawn to a false and provocative statement issued by the Lagos state Police Command in which the Command unsuccessfully attempted to mislead the public on the fabricated case they initiated against Quadri Alabi. The statement is not only laughable, it is ridiculous. It is embarrassing to see the police spread disinformation and fake news about an innocent Nigerian child.
“Nigerians will note that in our previous statements, we disclosed that our client was abducted by two ‘Area Boys’ named Lege and Baba Waris while he was on his way home from work and dumped at Amukoko Divisional Police Station. These same Area Boys and their cohorts have been harassing our client since 2023 in their effort to extort “their share” of the donations made to him after he stood in front of the convoy of Mr. Peter Obi. In its statement, the police claimed that Quadri was arrested in connection with street fighting. They also claimed that some properties were damaged, and that some persons were also robbed. According to the police, Quadri was identified by some people in the community and by the victims. First, we wish to restate that Quadri is not 18 years old as mischievously parroted by the police. He is 17 as contained in his birth certificate and attested to by his mother. He was born on the 29th day of September, 2007. Second, Quadri was not involved in street fighting and did not rob anyone, he also did not damage anyone’s property. Third, there was no time that our client was identified by any victim of the alleged crime. The police should tell the public when and where the identification was done and the method used. How was Quadri identified by the alleged victims when no identification parade was conducted as required by law, given the alleged offences were said to have been committed at about 10pm?
“Fourth, the police in their statement said that our client was arrested, but they failed to state who exactly arrested him and the place he was arrested. Their silence on these key points is quite revealing. Sixth, the so-called casemates of Quadri are adults who are not known to him. The police failed to disclose the relationship or connection between Quadri and the four adults who were remanded along with him. We should also state for the records that the police had detained Quadri for about a week in the police cell before unlawfully taking him before a magistrate for remand. It is the law that once the permissible constitutional limit for detaining a suspect has passed, a subsequent order of remand cannot cure the infringement. It is preposterous…that the Lagos State Police Command rather than exude remorse, has chosen the ignoble path of doubling down on its act of perfidy, shamelessness, lawlessness, and utter contempt for justice and the truth”.
The police have been caught, they should stop digging. They will be better served if they use their time to prepare to meet Alabi in court through his counsel Inibehe, and to prepare to contest the demand in tens of millions of Naira in compensation. In the meantime Nigerians should be alarmed at the deterioration of their police. How many Quadri Alabis have the police wasted using the country’s criminal justice system? How many?
