Security expert, Ibadin, flays security agents clashes

Frontline security consultant and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Badinson Security Limited, Mr. Mathew Ibadin, has condemned the the recurring cases of clashes among security agents and called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency set up inter agency disciplinary commissions to handle matters relating to such disgraceful acts.

In November alone, no fewer than two incidents of clashes between two security agencies of the Federal Government were recorded.

A fortnight ago, some armed personnel of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) had stormed the Kaduna Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) where some NAF personnel arrested in connection with internet fraud were reportedly detained to forcefully secure their release.

A few days after the Kaduna incident, a police inspector, Jacob Daniel, was killed by some soldiers in Adamawa State during a clash between operatives of the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force. The soldiers reportedly stormed the police headquarters over a conflict with some officers at the Target Junction in Yola North Local Government Area.  It was reported that a soldier was shot on the leg by a police man  during the conflict, hence other soldiers went for a revenge mission.

In the second week of March this year, two police officers were killed by operatives of the Nigerian Army in Taraba State. The soldiers in a show of force had stormed the Police headquarters to avenge the stabbing of their colleagues by policemen.

In January, a soldier and a policeman engaged each other in a fight over a disagreement in Lagos.  The video of the fight which went viral showed the policeman, with a gun engaging the soldier in a fight while street urchins cheered.

In the first week of August 2022, a policeman was beaten to death by some soldiers along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway during a disagreement which ensued while the officers numbering about 30 were trying to breach traffic rules in a traffic logjam.

Ibadin noted that the sister agencies were created and funded by the same Federal Government and it would proper for the management and operatives of the various agencies to know that they are “children of the same parents” and should not wash their dirty linen in the public.

While describing the inter-agency clashes as disgraceful, Ibadin said the only antidote is the setting up of an inter -disciplinary commission of not more than ten members by the Presidency.

He recommended that membership of the proposed task force should include private security consultants, retired court judges, civil society organization members and National Assembly (Senate/ House of Representatives) members and exclude serving and retired personnel of the nation’s security agencies. The Commission, according to him, should have the power to try any security agent involved in fighting with any member of a sister security agency.

The security chieftain who spoke with some journalists in Lagos posited that with the endless incidents of clashes between the Army and Police or Police and Customs, Immigration and Navy, Air Force and NDLEA, civil defence and the police,  there was evidence of a break down of law and order among the security agencies with the age long slogan “Esprit de corps” largely lacking in contemporary time.

He regretted the high level of desecration the officers and men who engage in the clashes have subjected the uniforms they wear to.

According to him,

“The uniforms they wear are a symbol of authority and fighting openly in public makes our security agents a laughing stock even before the international community. If the men in uniforms continue to fight one another in public as is currently being witnessed, what is the difference between them and street urchins?” he queried.

The Badinson Security boss also urged President Tinubu to consider restructuring the security agencies in a manner that would prevent overlap of functions, which in some cases, cause friction and violent physical combat.

For a better society

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