Security votes should be paid directly to police commissioners

Ayo Akinfe

[1] This week, our National Assembly has begun debating a bill that will decentralise the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) and devolve power to the zones and states. I hope they come up with proposals to fund this structure, so the units can be responsive

[2] Over recent years, this matter of Fulanis kidnapping passengers on motorways across Nigeria has assumed alarming proportions. It is no longer just armed robbery but is now becoming something of an industry in which a private army is taking over the country’s expressways

[3] What makes it particularly frightening is the ethnic dimension of the scourge. Traditionally, armed robbery in Nigeria was multi-ethnic and equal opportunity but this recent pandemic is more or less wholly Fulani as the perpetrators only speak Fulfude. It is like they will not allow you to join their gang unless you are Fulani

[4] What I struggle to get my head round is how did these guys manage to open camps all over Nigeria where they train their members and build hostage detention centres without anybody noticing. Kidnapping actually started off as a localised business in the southeast but it appears the Fulani have now taken over and turned it into a nationwide phenomenon

[5] When Evans and his gang were in business, they were a wholly Igbo outfit, kidnapping Igbo victims across the southeast, so it did not have any ethnic dimension to it. We dismissed it as an “Igbo problem.” Today, we are paying the price for this negligence

[6] As we speak, armed Fulani kidnappers have forest dens in virtually every state of Nigeria from where they can attack any motorway. They have exploited the growth of online banking in Nigeria to the maximum by getting the families of victims to transfer money into accounts without making contact. What I do not get is why nobody is tracking these funds. At some stage, the kidnappers have to withdraw the money from the bank, which is where the police should be waiting for them. As things stand, the kidnappers are free to do as they please with no hindrance whatsoever

[7] Every state in Nigeria has a police commissioner with men under his command. Is there anything stopping them raiding these camps, closing down these bank accounts and policing these motorways to end this scourge?

[8] Does President Buhari realise that it is only a matter of time before this sparks another major ethnic crisis? Just imagine what will happen if ESN youths storm a Fulani camp in the southeast. They will cleanse the place of these criminals and before you know it, there will be reprisals in northern Nigeria and alas, within a week, we will have a full blown ethnic cleansing catastrophe on our hands

[9] Over the long term, what bothers me most is that we have set an ugly precedent of one ethnic group being able to act with impunity and in defiance of the law simply because the president is one of theirs. This ugly trend can set off a chain reaction with other ethnic groups following suit in the future. It could also lead to the Fulani reluctant to ever allow anyone who is not one of theirs become president. Their leaders will be under pressure not to risk being “in opposition.”

[10] President Buhari is joking with fire on this one, similar to how Nero was dancing when Rome was burning. He can easily remedy the situation by paying police commissioners the security vote currently given to governors, distancing himself from any pan-Fulani agenda and making it clear that no ethnic group is above the law. His refusal to act is building up a keg of gunpowder that will soon explode in our collective faces