Ignatius Chukwu’s ‘A Feast of crime: New Rivers Police boss takes war to Armed gangs, hauls in 66 suspects,” BusinessDay, Sunday 18th June, 2017, PP. 12 &13, profiles the achievement of Rivers State Police Commissioner, Zaki Ahmed. In just three months, March-June 2017, Ahmed arrested 66 suspects. Out of this number, 31 were for armed robbery, 16 for cultism, 13 for kidnapping and 4 injured in shootouts. Guns, ammunition and eight stolen vehicles were recovered. Kidnapped victims were rescued and arsons averted restoring investor confidence.
Statistically, Chukwu’s treatise comes handy but not in explaining the ways and means. It fails to address the unasked question: What did Nigeria Police Rivers State Command do differently under Ahmed to get it right? That is where this article makes sense.
Background
Pre-Ahmed Rivers was a hotbed for cultists and militants. In the Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Emohua, Ahoada, Omoku, Gokana, etc, life and property were endangered as mass killings became the order of the day. The Nigeria military had to invade Ogoniland in pursuit of a local warlord, Solomon Ndigbara, for instance; an invasion roundly condemned by well-meaning Nigerians.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, refrained from using force to crush militancy as that could send out wrong signal that his state was unsafe. He made a brilliant move granting amnesty to outlaws prepared to renounce criminality. Wike scored high by drafting Sir Ken Chinda to chair the Rivers State Amnesty Programme comprising representatives from the police, military and Department of State Services, DSS. What happened next stunned Nigerians, put mildly.
From the 23 LGAs of the state, Chinda netted in 22,340 hoodlums, militants and cultists who openly renounced criminality. Some 911 arms, 7, 661 ammunition and 147 explosives were also surrendered to the Chinda-led amnesty. This brought a sudden end to the reign of terror and Wike began the onerous task of reconstructing communities affected by militant activities. This was late 2016.
Whereas militancy and cultism were essentially a rural problem, the capital city of Port Harcourt and neighbouring Obio/Akpor witnessed massive hiccups occasioned by the activities of pro-Biafra agitators. Economic activities became paralysed whenever the agitators were abroad during the same 2016. It was in poor Wike’s Rivers that members of the Nnamdi Kalu-led Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, allegedly tore the Nigerian flag before setting it on fire. The military and police responded with brute force.
The Mile1/Mile 3 Axis of Fire was virtually under the control of resentful youths loyal to Kanu. In January 2017 then Police Commissioner Francis Odesanya teamed up with the military to break up a massive rally before charging 45 pro-Biafra activists to court. Out of this number seven were arraigned before Chief Magistrate Obi Amadi-Nna while the remaining 38 faced similar fate before Chief Magistrate Sokari Andrew-Jaja.
Charges level against them included treasonable felony in addition to the grievous sin of conducting themselves “…in a manner likely to force or compel the president to change his measures, by displaying flags and other items of the Biafran Republic with such intention by an act to take over the government of Nigeria by force and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 41(C) of the Criminal Code Cap 37 Vol II Laws of Rivers State of Nigeria, 1999.”
The accused not only pleaded not guilty but counter-claimed that the police and military used live bullets to kill 15 unarmed and harmless members of IPOB and Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, whose only sin was showing open support for American President Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony. The alleged massacre was widely reported by world media further dampening Wike’s efforts in casting Rivers as investor friendly.
The use of force, excessive or moderate, became a burden as Rivers displaced volatile Delta State as the sick man of Niger Delta. As long as the trial lasted the capital city was overcast by a foreboding aura of insecurity and it was a good thing that the state command discontinued the case early March. Such was the sad state of affairs when Ahmed got posted late March to Rivers following the unfortunate demise of his predecessor Odesanya.
Tactical reforms: Visibility policing
In lay man’s language, the reforms Ahmed instituted in Rivers Command are both tactical and ethical. Tactically, the reforms throw a three-tier security dragnet over the entire Rivers.
In the first-tier he divided Rivers Command into seven Sectors. Each sector is under a Deputy or Assistant Commissioner in charge of operations. Each Sector, in turn, consists of a group of Divisions. It is the duty of his DPOs to lead each Division made up of a given number of Tactical Units. Each unit covers a number of streets. Under this configuration senior officers are posted out into the field to fight crime. Ahmed himself heads a Sector, as Chukwu rightly pointed out.
The second-tier includes using the geographical map of Rivers to create what Ahmed calls “Nipping Points” state-wide. By definition, nipping points are crime infested spots with known patterns and statistics. On each Nipping Point is assigned a patrol vehicle manned by operatives from Divisions and Tactical Units consisting of Special Armed Robbery Squad, SARS, Rapid Respond Team, RRT, Anti-Kidnapping Unit and Anti-Cultism Unit. Operatives confront threats on the spot while relaying Situation Report back to Control Room.
The third-tier is “Stop and Search” by mobile units. Suspicious characters, vehicles or situations are immediately searched and released where found clean. It is the responsibility of DPOs to minutely monitor and supervise the units for efficiency. To keep Rivers from infiltration by criminals from neighbouring states Stop and Search operates twenty-four hours.
The combination of the three forms a formidable security dome, or shield, over Rivers. Officers and men of Rivers Command call this measure “Visibility Policing” even though criminals dread it as invisible and ubiquitous difficult to detect.
Ethical reforms: Dialogue
The Punch newspaper, Wednesday, 21th June 2017, carried the headline, ‘Soldiers, Police Stop Protest against Agip in Rivers State.’ On Tuesday 20th June the executive and members of Agip Indigenous/Landlords Contractors Association demonstrated for not being paid one year after executing contracts for Agip. At the Agip Junction a combined team of soldiers and police asked them to go back, which they did. A traumatised Livinus Opuakpa, chairman, Technical Committee of the association narrated what happened next.
“On arrival here, as we were trying to distribute our protest materials to our members, we saw military men; they came and started beating some of us… Look at how one of us was manhandled. He was beaten up while his money was collected. They are telling us that we must not protest. So, the million naira question is this; must we go and destroy oil installations to drive home our demands?”
Mercifully, The Punch concluded: “But the Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni, told our correspondent that the state Police Commissioner, Zaki Ahmed, had invited Agip and the aggrieved contractors to a meeting, where both reached a consensus for peace to reign.”
The above demonstrates two facts: One, the reason why the police did not join soldiers in beating up citizens is because Rivers Command under Ahmed respects human rights. Two, Rivers Command has prioritised dialogue in conflict resolution. The violence associated with the Axis of Fire, comprising of Ahmed’s Sector Two of Diobu, Nkpolu/Mile 3, Diobu Azikiwe, Olu Obasanjo and Sani Abacha Divisions, is depleted to zero.
One can safely argue, therefore, that the ethical dimension of Ahmed’s reforms is dialogue as he pacified Rivers through diplomacy rather than brute force. That he personally phones parties in a dispute means cases capable of snowballing into civil unrests are effectively managed. Crises must come, especially chieftaincy and land disputes, but he doesn’t allow them spill into the streets.
Conclusion
Ahmed is an officer who knows when to stop fighting and start talking to an opponent. That is the hallmark of a true professional. Unionists, community leaders, youths, pro-Biafra agitators, outlaws, sinners and holy men are listening to him because he understands their arguments. That is confidence-building.
The greatest general, according to Sun Tsu’s ‘The Art of War,’ is one that conquers without fighting: If dialogue can do why war? Why settle for a foe when you can convert him to an ally? Don’t execute that spy, send him on dual mandate. Intelligence, intervention, dialogue and Ahmed is on top. The end justifies the means.
Eke, a commentator, writes from Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
CHIGACHI EKE
