By Crispin Oduobuk

As it is with many across the nation, last week?s unexpected retirement of the lately glaringly inept and almost certainly bent Inspector General of police, Tafa Balogun, continues to engender mixed emotions in your correspondent. In the main, I feel some elation over his ouster, even breaking out to myself in old English, ?Hear ye, hear ye how the mighty hath fallen!? Am I laughing at a man who?s down on his luck? Not really. It?s as if the divine tsunami I wrote about just a couple of weeks back is already upon us. Indeed, I?m just happy because, if nothing else, Balogun?s exit?while proving we live in interesting times?is a chance for someone else to try his hands at reforming and hopefully improving the performance of our police force, something that presumably proved too intricate for the departing police boss.

Despite my excitement, I also feel revulsion of a profound kind as I read about billions reportedly stashed here and there by Oga Tafa. Worse than business as usual, this affair exemplifies sleaze extraordinary. What in heaven?s name does a man plan to do with so much money in one lifetime? Or is it possible these funds represent more than just Oga Tafa?s greed?

While I ponder over that, I can?t help feeling somewhat let down as well. More so because when Balogun initially assumed office, I thought he started out well. Of course, like they say, that was then; this is now. And now my state of disappointment is not assuaged by so many niggling questions on my mind. Niggling because there really is no reason why any of us should be overly surprised by this peculiar turn of events. Long before his exit, didn?t we all have more than a hint that Balogun wasn?t aiming for sainthood? Remember those roundly-denied cow gifts exclusively reported by the Daily Trust last year? At any rate, weren?t we all here when the 2003 ?elections? happened? Didn?t that matchless exercise in state-sponsored banditry teach us that ?government magic? has acquired meanings hitherto unimaginable? And wasn?t Balogun?s police force?especially his beloved mobile arm?culpable in that violent charade?

Even so, the early but nonetheless sordid enough details of Tafagate has me wondering where the much talked-about anti-corruption crusade is crusading if the nation?s number one policeman can amass such stupendous sums in various currencies within and outside the country?and all these obviously through fraudulent methods?over a three-year period, without anyone turning him in. What?s more, are the anti-corruption crusaders, obviously with the retiring IG included therein, exempt from the presumably cleansing effect of the crusade?

Moreover, I am quite unable to understand the kid gloves that the government has used in its initial handling of the matter. Why retirement when Oga Tafa obviously has a case to answer? Why not at least a suspension, if not an outright sack, until the matter is thoroughly investigated? Why ?under surveillance? when he should be placed under house arrest at the very least? Is he another sacred cow? As we have seen over the past few years, there are quite a number of those among us. Remember whose-relative-is-he who got off on the grounds of the legal jargon nolle prosequi when the fellow had earlier been indicted for complicity in the theft of eye-popping millions at the Ministry of Defence? What about that somewhat cocky young godfather and his somewhat sheepish older godson of a governor? I do not wish to muck about here but is there a chance this might become another ?family affair? in the manner the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) usually handles problems, regardless of their magnitude?

I know I?m full of questions this morning but what else is there for it? It?s not just the conspicuous fact that there?s more to this matter than meets the eye. For me it?s even more troubling that my mind has no understanding of my obvious physical limitations in coming to grips with the intrigues and shenanigans that sits over Tafagate like a hallo. For instance, why did Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the charismatic assistant commissioner of police heading up the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have to be the one to bring down Balogun? Are there no other organs of state customarily charged with overseeing the police? Before we go further, let?s backtrack a bit. But first, please, understand I?m merely chewing a communal bone here. Now, I should do names and you, good reader, should do the out-of-favour/EFCC connection.

1. Governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State

2. Chief Audu Ogbeh, outgoing chairman of the PDP

Let?s leave it at that for now and ?move forward,? a notion I now cynically associate with politicians who wish to paper over their crimes, especially after electoral violations may have secured unmerited public offices for them. This morning, the third name we should add to the earlier two is none other than Tafa Balogun. As a policeman?even though the highest-ranking one?the departing IG, unlike the earlier two, isn?t nominally a politician. Yet there were times in the past it seemed certain Balogun didn?t know the difference. Before his fall from grace, Balogun was a man one would sometimes see on television working crowds with arms raised triumphantly like a boxer who had just knocked out a particularly tough opponent. He would also be flashing victory signs and a blinding ear-to-ear grin just like a politician on a soapbox. Now, for whatever reason, the promoter of ?Operation fire-for-fire? is quite clearly out of favour with the powers that be. Cue the EFCC. These days we can almost predict the way the cookie crumbles, not so? Pity.

Don?t get me wrong. If there are any tears in my eyes, it?s just the harmattan asserting its presence; they?re certainly not for Balogun. The police force, under his watch, surpassed even its erstwhile inglorious image. I?ve talked enough about armed robbery in recent times so I?m not going to revisit that. But please recall that disgrace called election 2003. The rank and file of the police force aided and abetted unprecedented vote theft and perpetrated no small amount of violence on many citizens of this country. During that farce, the police either participated directly, or stood by and watched?like they did recently in Anambra?as property was destroyed and people were battered by thugs.

My personal memories of election 2003 will always be coloured by the agony of the people I interviewed in the Southeast soon after the election, many of whom had been subjected to violent abuse by thugs and?in some cases?agents of the government, including policemen and soldiers. In one sad case, I was almost overwhelmed as I listened to the emotion-laden accounts of relatives of an ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission who?d been killed at his polling station for refusing to turn over ballot boxes to thugs of an infamous political party. These reports were published in the Weekly Trust in 2003. While all these were going on, what role did Balogun play as head of the organisation constitutionally mandated to keep law and order and protect citizens of this country? Perhaps this is how he gets to pay for his complicity in that mayhem?

Yet there is no guarantee that this matter will be treated in any manner different from the ?family affair? approach the PDP-led government has adopted towards the Anambra problem that has left the state in its current mess. This is why I am a bit concerned about the role of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who strikes me as an exceptional man?forthright, fearless and seemingly a person of his own mind. I have no doubt that many, especially those that matter most in the corridors of power, share this view. And yet lately I?ve been wondering if, like many brilliant men in history, he is simply not being used in more or less the same way other mortals?regardless of their pre-eminent rank in the forces or other spheres?are often manipulated by wielders of power, only to be discarded in dishonour once they?ve outlived their efficacy. As he is seemingly nailing Balogun?s coffin now, I should watch out for me if I were in his shoes.

To get back to Balogun, I?m wondering if he?s going to take this matter lying down. I think he would do well to scream himself hoarse that he hasn?t done anything wrong. It?s great that his lawyer is already doing that. Should that tack fail, he should beg to be let off on grounds of Governor Dariye?s Glasshouse Theory. Either one or the other almost always works here. And if the EFCC can prove that he has violated the law, that should be Balogun?s cue to let it all out.

Oga Tafa, let those cats?it simply can?t be one?let them all out of the bag. They?ve got you. Okay. But if you?re going down, at least take some of your comrades-in-whatever with you. Hell, take the whole damn lot with you. Help us break some of these glasshouses. After all, it?s inconceivable that you did it alone. All those billions? Come on! Who else is involved? In any case, who were the paymasters? What were the monies meant for? Sing, Oga Tafa sing! Sing and further enliven these interesting times we live in.

To Mr Sunday Ehindero

While you?re steering affairs at Louis Edet House, here?s wishing you God?s guidance. You are surely going to need it if it falls on you to do something about the performance of the Nigeria Police Force. Do not be deceived that any number of adverts in the media would change the way Nigerians perceive the force. Only the actuality of their performance would revamp the image of the police. Meanwhile, having already wished you God?s guidance, there?s little left to say. However, I?d like to share a line of advice I composed in old English, something I think may approximate a biblical saying that I can?t readily put my finger on: Look ye to the deeds of thy predecessor; therein lie the key to thy success or failure.

Finally to you, dear reader, have a week full of interesting revelations.

Crispin Oduobuk is the Group Literary Editor of the Trust papers

Robot  # 1 | 27.04.2008 14:15

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