Date: 2012-07-01

John Bayeshea (SAN) is an Ilorin-based legal practitioner noted for his penchant for Human Rights cases and related issues. He spoke to ABIODUN FAGBEMI in Ilorin on the issues of Security Votes and State Policing System as a panacea to the current security challenges in the country.

WHAT is the semantic connotation of the phrase, Security Votes, in Nigeria?

By its name, it supposes to be a vote with money in it for the purposes of attending to security matters in the state or at the federal level. This vote in question could be used for the purchasing of security equipment and put up security network that will stop anything that could threaten the peace of the state and the entire nation as an entity. These are the ideas of what the security vote should be. But the salient question is that how effective has it been?

In Nigeria, the security vote is the exclusive preserve of both the state governor and the nation's president. We learnt it involves a huge sum of money, which they are not willing to disclose to the public. In other words, you are not expected to ask any question on it.

Kindly make an assessment of the present security conditions of Nigeria.

Our security system in the recent time is abysmally porous. Robbers break open banks without hindrance; hoodlums and kidnappers effortlessly carry out their nefarious activities while the terrorists are on rampage without any visible sign of a solution.

By the time those saddled with the responsibilities of providing adequate security will respond, they will say these criminal elements of our society have superior firepower, better vehicles and are better remunerated. If you look at the armoured vehicles of our policemen, they are the ones used during the Second World War. It is a shame and a scam.

Is the nondisclosure of how much is given as security votes a good development under a democratic setting?

It is only in Nigerian democracy that you cannot audit the security vote. It has, therefore, become a veritable tool for corruption. This does not mean that all the state governors and the president are guilty of it, but it is not always the best form of behavior to take people's funds without accounting for them.

For instance, when some governors claimed to have purchased some patrol vehicles to the Police, why is it that after some few months, we will no longer see such vehicles on the road? Again, when people are arrested for fraud and the stolen money are recovered, what usually becomes the usage of the money so recovered?

In a nutshell, any process that does not make someone to be accountable is condemnable and should not be allowed in any sensible democracy.

In developed democracies of the world, it is an aberration for you to take public funds without accounting for it. That is why we are not walking yet as a nation. In fact, we are not crawling; we are wasting away as a nation.

Let the people talk about the security vote. Let the public subject it to scrutiny. Let us audit the money and what we buy with it. We need to change our attitude on it.

If you look at the state of insecurity presently in our country, is there any justification at all for security vote? Our policemen and soldiers are being mowed down daily. I think people now rely on God for their safety. It is because people don't have anywhere to run to; otherwise, many Nigerians would have taken refuge elsewhere.

The security vote has been subjected to an abuse. It must stop. If we cannot know anything about the security vote, why making available votes on defence in the annual budget of both the State and the Federal Governments?

At a recent meeting, state governors canvassed more funds for security. Is there any justification for this based on your submissions?

If anybody is supporting more funds in the name of security vote, especially a private security vote for governors and the president, it will negate our position on the issue. The thrust of my argument on it is that the vote itself, I mean by not subjecting it to public auditing, is incorrect. It must fall within the purview of monies that could be audited before they start asking for more.

The security challenges we are facing today are not due to the amount of money contained in the security vote but that the money is not being properly channeled. We see the money going into bottomless pit.

Of course, many of the state governors want constructive criticisms but even where such is given, they still don't take it in good faith. So, if the money is audited publicly, we can all see it whether or not they need more funds.

In Nigeria, the only thing that is new in our security equipment is probably the paint they used on them because they are likely to be all refurbished things. Let all these wickedness stop at first before we start demanding more.

Some of the governors are good, because they make themselves accountable to those who voted them into power. If you canvassed openly for votes, why then are you hiding the packages in the security vote from such voters?

 

WHAT are your views on the need for State Police in the country?

I wish we did not hastily cancel the operations of the State Police in the First Republic. That time, we referred to them as Native Police Authority. Some people claimed that the system was being abused and don't forget that it was during the colonial rule. They used knickers against the trousers our Police put on today. They were very efficient.

The mere fact that some politicians abused it then should not have called for its cancellation. If we had retained it, by now, we would have been used to it.

The only major fear today for its reintroduction is that the people at the state level will abuse it. How long shall we continue to be held back by fear? There are enough provisions in the nation's Constitution that safeguard the Rights of the people. If we don't want State Police, why do we have the State Government and not the Federal Government alone?

Look at the Land Use Act, for instance. If the Federal Government needs to set up anything in Kwara State today, it must first approach the state governor for land before it could establish the project. In a true federal system devoid of any faulty structure, we don't nurture fear the way we are doing today.

Besides, you call the state governors the Chief Security Officers of their states; I think the statement is just a glorified one. The Commissioner of Police, for instance, does not take any kind of instruction from the state governor.

In the United States, the counties, cities, states and the federal government all have their distinct police units with well laid out instructions about their modus operandi.

If you go to the University of Ilorin today, they have their own private security system. Once there is a breach of the security within the institution, they will act promptly, invite the regular police and hand the suspects over to them for investigation and likely prosecution.

If we continue to run away from the State Police, it means we don't have confidence in the system we are operating as a nation. This is not a partisan statement.

Moreover, we need to realise that no particular political party will rule Nigeria forever. Life in itself is dynamic. Let us put a system in place that is beyond the partisan policy on the ground.

If we claim that the government at the state level is using the state police against the opposition, don't we see the Federal Government using the police in states it does not control against members of the opposition party in such states?

We must be dynamic and shun rigidity of ideology. On my first visit to United States some years ago, I learnt that it would take Nigeria about 300 years to get to the level of development in America as at that time. I tried to argue against this but I was defeated.

Today, it will require a longer period because we are privileged to emulate many developed countries of the world but we are not doing that. The United States then had only Britain to copy from, but today, we have many countries to learn from but we are not ready for it.