सिक्यूरिटी एजेंट्स थे थे LAW

SECURITY OFFICERS AND THE LAW

Last week a local government chairman was arrested by Rivers State Governor, Chubike Amaechi, for driving against the flow of traffic. According to reports, the council chairman had some policemen in his entourage and even the driver of the Prado Jeep the council boss was traveling in is said to have been a policeman. Driving against the traffic is a common sight in Port Harcourt and most of the culprits are security personnel escorting one “big man” or some foreign technicians working in one oil servicing company.

Agreed that there are security challenges in Rivers State and other parts of Niger Delta, but do these justified the flagrant violation of traffic laws and other unlawful acts by security agents in the area. During a traffic jam it is common sight to see a bank bullion van, sometimes not carrying cash, driving against the traffic. You see police or military personnel who are not on emergency or even on duty, driving against the flow of traffic, just because they are uniformed men.

Do we have different laws for security men: military and paramilitary and other Nigerians? Is it proper for a security operative that violates a law to arrest a civilian for violating any law for that matter? As I am writing from my office, I can see two policemen on motorcycle without helmets arresting a taxi driver for a traffic offence. I thought the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) told us that with effect from January 1, 2009 it would be an offence for anybody to ride a motor bike or be a passenger on a bike without wearing a helmet. The commission did not tell us that its officers, military men, policemen and other paramilitary are exempted from the law. Do these military and paramilitary men have skulls made of steel that would not be affected in an event of accident? What moral justification does a security man has to arrest a civilian for riding a motor bike without a helmet while his colleague who committed the same offence pleads espirit de corps.

We cannot expect Nigerians to be obedient and law abiding when those who make our laws and those who are charged with the responsibility of enforcing these laws violate same laws with impunity. Any public officer or security agent or agency that breaks the law for whatever reason except for justifiable public interest is not worthy to continue in such office, arrest or prosecute a Nigerian who breaks the law.

Since the law on helmet came into force in January, in Port Harcourt no civilian dare ride a motorbike without a helmet. Many civilians out of fear of being labeled okada riders, there is a ban on commercial motorcycles in the city, have abandoned their bikes at home, sold or sent them to their villages. But on a daily basis you see hundreds of military and paramilitary men, including, FRSC staff, riding bikes without helmets. A week before the South South Economic Summit in Calabar, Cross River State men of the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps were reported to have killed an okada rider along Eight Miles area when they tried to stop him for not using helmet. According to sources, from the area the corps pick up van deliberately knocked down the okada rider in a bid to stop him but when they discovered that the impact was severe and the man died on the spot they abandoned him and ran away. Knocking down bike riders, especially okada riders, by men of the Civil Defence is a common practice in Calabar. But in the same city you see officers of the corps, FRSC, military and other paramilitary men riding bikes without helmets. Why should they arrest civilian offenders for the same offence they are guilty of? For a public servant, officer holder or security agent to violate any dot of our laws or constitution is rebellion against the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a sin against the Nigerian tax payers from whose pockets these persons salaries and allowances are paid. A servant cannot be greater than his master.

Recently 27 soldiers where sentenced to life imprisonment for daring to protest against the withholding of their legitimate allowances. But the persons who were responsible for the delay thereby provoking the soldiers to react were given light punishment. For God sake, why their salaries and allowances should be delayed or withheld after they have discharged their duties to their fatherland? Who caused the delay that led to their protest? Don’t they have the right to murmur or complain when they have been cheated? Hiding under military laws, rules or regulation to punish a man for agitating for his lawful right is unfair and illegal. Nigeria is a country where if you don’t shout, protest or demonstrate what rightly belong to you will not be given to you, ask the Niger Delta people.

Those jailed soldiers, to me, did not do anything wrong in agitating for allowances because if their allowances were paid as at when due there would have been no need or basis for their protest. Yes, Armed Forces Act may not tolerate protest or agitation of any kind, the Act also should not tolerate corruption in under any guise. Those who withheld the allowances are the real culprits and deserved the life sentences and not mere demotions. Like my colleague would say, salary/allowance delayed is salary/allowance denied. Nobody has informed us whether the jailed soldiers were later paid their delayed allowances. Now that they have been jailed, have the allowances been paid to them? They need the money more now that they are not going to be there for their families. We should not lead Nigerians into the temptation of committing crime because we would not be able to deliver them from the evils that would follow. If somebody is still keeping the soldiers money it should be given to them or their next of kin, and that very soon, without all those bottlenecks. In fact they should be paid with interest, starting from when they where suppose to be paid. You can’t jailed them and still forfeit their money, when the money was not illegally made.

We are told that the law is no respecter of any person or that nobody is above the law. It is not enough to make laws but these laws must be enforced equally on every offender no matter his or her status and position. We cannot re-brand Nigeria when lawmakers, law enforcement agents and other public officers are lawless. Public officers and officials should strive to abide by the laws and constitution of the country. We need discipline and order for this country to make progress as no remarkable growth and development can take place in a lawless society as ours. You cannot expect to have law-abiding citizens when our leaders, lawmakers and security agents do not obey the law.

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