Police Commissioner of the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT), Joseph Mbu, must really enjoy the limelight, no matter
the reason. Or how else can one explain his totally unnecessary attempt at
notoriety few days ago when he jumped on the wrong side of the
#BringBackOurGirls campaign? Until he spoke, few remembered that he was the
police boss in the nation’s capital.
By Monday evening, news filtered in
that the man, who just returned from fighting a long-drawn out battle with the
Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, had ordered immediate end to all
protests connected to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign in the FCT. He claimed to
have ‘banned’ the ‘protest’ because it was becoming a source of security risk.
Not surprisingly, a few citizens who
all along saw the BBOG campaigns as nothing but a political plot aimed at
discrediting the Jonathan administration celebrated the action of Mbu. Some
news reports actually said things like, “Government bans BringBackOurGirls
protests in Abuja”. When did the action of one out of at least 37 commissioners
of police become equated to the position of government? Anyway, the good news,
though, is that Mbu was on his own; for hardly had the news died down than the
office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) issued a disclaimer. I truly
wonder how Mbu felt when his boss took the wind out of his sail, more so when
such put down was done on behalf of the IGP by an officer lower in rank to Mbu.
The rejection of Mbu’s seemingly
abrasive bent to the maintenance of law and order is a welcome one. But while
Mbu’s over-reaching order lasted, many were quick to point out, and I restate
for the avoidance of a recurrence by Mbu or anyone else, that the constitution
of Nigeria guarantees a right to peaceful assembly. This is a right and not
some privilege to be bestowed on citizens or moderated at the whims of the
state and its officials.
Demonstrations, protests, campaigns
etc are necessary appurtenances to democracy; otherwise we create a nation of
zombies. That much the IGP’s office recognised in the counter statement when it
reiterated that the present Police High Command has “demonstrated a very strong
sense of democratic policing”.
Perhaps the likes of Mbu need some
lessons in this democratic policing to know that it does not lie in the mouth
of a CP to describe citizen’s actions to deepen democracy, rule of law and
strengthen security, as an act of ‘lawlessness’, as Mbu did.
Prior to Mbu’s attempt to clamp down
on the peaceful protest (which is nothing more than a sit out event), some
citizens had also criticised the protests. Some insinuated that the actions
were inimical to efforts by government to secure the release of the abducted
girls, who by the way have been in captivity for more than 50 days now. Someone
even suggested that the citizens’ protests could lead to mistakes by the
military due to ‘intense and unnecessary pressure’. My immediate response to
such an unprofessional suggestion is that no military worth its salt could be
so distracted by the actions of citizens sitting out in a public park and
calling on the state to do something to bring back abducted children.
Just asking, where was Mbu in 2010
when citizens, tired of the shenanigans that surrounded the illness of President
Umaru Yar’Adua and refusal of his kitchen cabinet to let go of power, went on
the streets of Abuja to protest? We, the citizens, protested and demanded from
whatever was left of the government at that time to do the needful and ensure
the smooth transfer of presidential powers from the ailing president to his
deputy, then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, to become acting president. And
so when some commentators and government apologists turn round today to get
angry about protests by the same populace against government, be it for the
mess in the petroleum sector and mismanagement of public finances or in the the
failure to contend terrorism, some of us shudder at how soon we forget.
http://www.thenicheng.com/a-long-boo-for-mbu/#sthash.3i1a97Qt.zUxacGNm.dpbs
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