For obvious reasons, the incident that took place at the Police Headquarters in Yola, Adamawa State, last week is a sad commentary on Nigeria’s democracy. While criminals subjected innocent citizens to horror in several parts of the state, members of security agencies who should have been collaborating to confront them engaged in deadly clashes, placing ego above patriotism. The scene was chaotic as men of the Nigerian Army, riding in 12 trucks, reportedly invaded the police headquarters, reenacting a war scene. They killed an inspector, one Jacob Daniel, and battered anyone in sight. Expectedly, the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Afolabi Babatola, while condemning the attack, urged officers to be careful and guard against attacks on security personnel. A statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Suleiman Nguroje, read: “The CP strongly condemned the recent conflict between Police and Army along Target Junction, Yola North Local Council, that resulted in exchange of fire, brutal attack on the police facility and killing of Inspector Jacob Daniel.”

According to the statement, the CP ordered immediate investigation into the matter with a view to ensuring peace and justice between the two security agencies and warned that attacks on all security officers on duty would no longer be tolerated under whatever guise. On his part, the Commander, 23 Armoured Brigade, Brigadier-General Gambo Mohammed, said the incident resulted from the shooting and arrest of one of his men by the police, following which his colleagues went to rescue him. Apparently, the police had, while on patrol, shot and injured a man in mufti, who turned out to be a soldier, following an argument, and the latter had been rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Yola, for medical attention. Following the clash, which came on the heels of a similar clash between operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and personnel of the Nigerian Air Force in Kaduna State, the Adamawa State governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, called on residents to remain calm and go about their normal businesses. In a statement by Chief Press Secretary (CPS), he urged security agencies in the state to resolve issues amicably.

This incident, like the many others before it, is distressing. At all times, men and women of the uniformed profession are expected to conduct their affairs with decorum and civility, exhibiting the hallmarks of the uniformed profession. They are not expected to turn the society into a war zone, creating panic among a populace already traumatised by social and economic dislocations. If anything, the clash between operatives of the Nigeria Police and Nigerian Army in Yola speaks to the oft-mentioned breakdown of discipline, professionalism and order, not just in the uniformed services but in the entire Nigerian space. The background to the clash was policemen’s shooting and arrest of a soldier. But were it not for indiscipline, why would policemen ordinarily resort to the shooting of a soldier, or any Nigerian for that matter, for no just cause? And why would the reaction of soldiers to an unjust treatment of one of them be another resort to flagrant invasion of a police station to effect forced release of the detained soldier, if not for the same affliction of persistent indiscipline? Would there be any space for abidance by the rules in the country and in the uniformed services if everybody resorted to taking the law into their own hands? The police do not have the right to summarily turn their guns on any Nigerian, and neither do soldiers any right to invade a police station. There are laid-down rules in the uniformed services to redress injustice, and it is telling that those rules were callously dispensed with in this situation, as indeed was the case during previous dastardly clashes between the security agencies.

Because there is often no official recompense, reckless behaviour has become the order of the day in the country. Certainly, following due process in seeking the arrest of the soldier if he had done anything wrong would not entail shooting him and detaining him with impunity, just as seeking redress for his unjust arrest and detention would not include a resort to brigandage. We reiterate that there are proper procedures for redress outside of the wilful resort to illegality and impunity, especially by operatives of the uniformed services who are expected to show the way forward for the society with their well regulated behaviour. We hope the authorities in the police and the army will feel sufficiently embarrassed by this ignominious incident to put in place necessary restructuring to return their personnel to proper, disciplined behaviour, even while subjecting those involved in the show of shame to appropriate punishment. The unhealthy rivalry among security agencies must stop, and treating the current case in accordance with the statute books is a good way to start.

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