ON July 2, Nigerians were shocked when the news of police protest on the streets of Maiduguri, Borno State, was relayed to the world. Until the return to civil rule in 1999, the myth of policemen being prohibited by their calling from going on strike or engaging in public protests was the norm. The late Afrobeat maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, in one of his records deriding the men in uniform, even referred to them as zombies who listened to orders and barely had a mind of their own. But the police rank and file were to burst that myth when they embarked on strike on February 1, 2002 over their allegedly poor service conditions, a move which cost the then Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Musiliu Smith, his job.
On July 2, Nigerians were confronted by the spectacle of mobile policemen wielding their guns menacingly, brandishing leaves and singing provocative songs against the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) authorities. The policemen were protesting the non-payment of six months’ allowances. They barricaded the state command headquarters located along the Maiduguri-Kano highway, disrupting traffic. According to the protesters, about 10,000 mobile policemen were deployed to Borno from various commands but their allowances were withheld by the police authorities. They claimed that they had made several pleas to the authorities concerned but that the pleas fell on deaf ears.
The reaction of the police authorities to the protest was that the delay in the payment of the allowances was due to the delay in the passage of the 2018 budget. According to the Borno State Commissioner of Police, Damian Chukwu, the delay was beyond the powers of the police authorities. But while the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, was summoned to Aso Rock Villa by the Presidency in connection with the protest, the force spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, engaged in semantic games. He claimed that the riot policemen did not protest the delay in the payment of their special duty allowances but merely visited the Borno State Police Command headquarters to enquire about the allowances.
Moshood however said that the IGP had ordered that the protesting policemen be apprised of the efforts being made to pay their allowances. He also claimed that the policemen were deployed in the area for crime prevention but not attached to Operation Lafiya Dole, the outfit appended to military operations against insurgency in the North-East. He said: “The IGP has ordered the Commissioner of Police, Police Mobile Force, to proceed to Maiduguri, Borno State and other states in the North-East where PMF personnel are deployed on special duty, to lecture and inform them on the efforts being made by the force to ensure timely payment of special duty and other allowances to police personnel in the North-East of the country.”
In spite of the claim that the policemen were on a fact-finding mission at the Borno State police headquarters, it was clear that their grievances against the running of their affairs by the topmost echelon of the police informed their protest. The Force PRO’s attempt to euphemise a very sordid occurrence is lamentable and unacceptable. The fact remains that the police authorities shied away from the responsibility of prompt payment of allowances. Whether or not the protesters were appended to the fight against Boko Haram is immaterial. To deny such men their allowances is objectionable. Workers deserve their wages.
We are glad that the grievances of the “men on enquiry” are being looked into by the police authorities. Not only should these grievances be sorted out, the police should ensure that such national embarrassment never recurs. It is shameful if those put in charge of maintaining law and order throw order and decency overboard. Lame excuses and veiling of truth with semantics can only cause the rot within the police to fester. The time to curb the unpleasant occurrences in the police is now.