Policing Kaduna/Abuja highway, my biggest headache —Abeh

Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Mr Agyole Abeh spoke with the Northern Bureau Chief, MUHAMMAD SABIU on the activities and challenges of policing a complex state like Kaduna. Excerpts:

WHAT attracted you to the police?

Outside my love for the force, there was a motivating factor and it was personal to me. I was young then. It was a family issue that involved my mother and I was not happy with the way the police handled it. I was too  young to interfere, so, I said to my friend, now Barrister Auta, that I was going to be a police officer. I remember telling him that I would ensure that whoever came my way got justice. Each time I sit with him, he reminds me of the oath I made. Sometimes ago, he told my wife about this promise I made many years ago. Here I am today as the commissioner of police in Kaduna. So, my joining the police was not because I needed a job, but I needed a job to be done.

Looking at the force then and now, can you make a comparison? 

There is no basis for comparison. Then, the number of those who joined the police were not many. The country was not too complex. It was easier to manage the population then, but today the situation is different. The society is complex and dynamic too. You don’t expect the same reactions because at every stage you get the kind of police that the society really reflects.

Do you think we need more police men in the country?

Most often than not, people begin to make comparison with the police in other countries. I don’t think this is desirable. This is because the police of every society reflect the people’s culture and norms. For instance, some societies do not have the type of terrain we have and we have to take policing to these places. Don’t forget we are policing even remote areas that have no access roads. So, the Nigeria Police need more manpower today, especially the rural communities. When we say community policing, it means taking police to the people. But we have over 300,000 officers to police not just 200 million  Nigerians, but a vast land. We need more policemen.

As the state CP, do you have time to relax?

I don’t have time to sleep. Sometimes, I am talking and I dose off because if I go to sleep, a lot of things will go wrong and I need to stay awake. At times, even if I’m not treating any file, my phone is working. So you find it difficult to sleep or even rest. In Kaduna, a lot of people want things to be done their own ways. Even if someone is passing by their fence, they call you. As CP, I have to call Operation Yaki to tell them to check so and so place. By 5 a.m ., every CP commanding a state  must be awake to send situational report to the Inspector General of Police(IGP) as well as supervising Deputy Inspector General. In fact, we send report to about 10 people on everything that is happening in our state. You find that by the time you finish sending the report, it’s past six. By then, you will be thinking of having your bath, take your breakfast and prepare for office.

What is giving you a headche as the cp in charge of kaduna?

Honestly speaking, policing  Kaduna/Abuja road is my greatest headache. Then the Kaduna /Birnin Gwari road. I was able to subdue criminals along Kaduna/Zaria road. We are almost in the process of achieving similar results in Kaduna /Birnin Gwari road, but as you know, the activities of these armed bandits is being aided by the vast forest that  we have. To be honest, their activities are worrisome. As for Kaduna /Abuja road, we were able to tame the hoodlums along the highway. But here again, between each of the patrol team, these kidnappers strike and take their victims inside the forest. It is a snap operation, very difficult to know when it will happen. But I think in the last couple of days, we have been able to blocked many of them.

We have the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Special Squad and I have my own squad too. Put together, we have arrested over 100 kidnappers along the Kaduna / Abuja highway. In the last couple of weeks, we have encountered a group that have been terrorising Kaduna /Zaria, even up to  Kano, and we were able to demobilise about three members of the gang, including their  leader, who was traced to Katsina and brought here to Kaduna. We have two members of the gang in custody. To this end,  we have arrested six out of the eight member gang. We are now after two members of the gang who are still at large.

What do you think is responsible for these  incessant cases of kidnapping?

98 per cent of these  cases, as far as the North is concerned, are by herdsmen. We have had contact with them and we could see that most of the suspects are Fulani men. People used to say that they are foreigners from the neighbouring countries. Even if they are from Chad, Mali, they are being guided by the local Fulani. One of the things responsible for this is that most of these herdsmen rear cattle and after profiling why they are involved in kidnapping, I discovered that most of them lost their cattle to rustlers. Having lost everything, they went into armed banditry, then and later  kidnapping because it is more lucrative. When they abduct their victims, they take the victims to areas they know the police have no access to. Kaduna is so vast, so they are taking advantage of that to commit the crime. But on the whole, we are doing our best.

The issue of Southern Kaduna is disturbing. What efforts are you doing to bring lasting peace in the area?

Southern Kaduna is peaceful. It took a lot of efforts. I must commend all security agencies. It was an act that everybody was involved in especially the military. The Nigerian Army partnered with us so much and now, we can see the people›s willingness to embrace peace. And honestly speaking, there is nothing greater than peace. We are dialoguing with the youths and various organisations.

Do you still have military and police presence in the area? 

Right now in Southern Kaduna, we have what is known as ‘Operation Save Haven It is a military Joint Task Force that have now taken the responsibility of security in the area. The military now is in charge of the command structure .so the challenges that we used to have are no longer there. So from time to time if we hear of any incident, we respond. The massive attacks, massive killings that we used to hear don’t exist any longer. Here also I must commend the role of both the state government and the Federal Government in bringing peace in the area. We have seen the political will and received unflinching  support from both arms.

The issue of ‘Sara Suka’ is becoming another security threat in the state capital. How do you intend to tackle it? 

Recently, Abdullahi Killer, who was wanted since 2014, was brought here (police command). We recovered a lot of items from him. I have just interviewed him. This fellow allegedly committed a murder and ran to Kano. Since then, he has been on the wanted list of the police. What he usually did was to sneak in and anytime, he sneaks in,  members of his gang would commit  one crime or the other. He was arrested at NAF club following a tip off. He has admitted that he is the leader of all the Sara Suka in the state. We have arrested many of them who are in our custody. So far we have arraigned about 50 of them. When I realised that the ‘Sara Suka’ was becoming a dangerous phenomenon in the state, I approached the governor, Malam El-rufai, of the need for one of the judges to be assigned to be hearing and dispensing justice without delay. He gave his consent.