Over the last one month we have series of chaotic events in Nigeria. How do you blame Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior for the terrorists attack in Owo where more than 30 people were killed? How do you blame Aregbesola for the killing of more than 90 people in Zamfara State which has provoked the Governor to tell their people to arm themselves? How do you blame Aregbesola for the killing of more than 30 soldiers in a mining site in Niger State? How do you blame Aregbesola for the attack on President Buhari convoy in Katsina State? Those requesting for Aregbesola to be sacked as minister of interior are not objective because the police and army got a report of the Kuje’s correctional attack.

OF late, there had been series of sponsored attacks on military, police, INEC offices and correctional centres facilities. The gory attacks on police stations and other government institutions are launched to strike fear. There have been more attacks on military and police facilities than correctional centres. The military and police provide security for our correctional centres across Nigeria. Why are some people being mischievous about calling for the sack of Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior? The Federal Government has said the security personnel deployed to man Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kuje, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) did their best to repel the terrorists’ attack but were subdued. Terrorists Succeeded Because They Had Superior Firepower. The Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Dingyadi, said this while fielding questions from State House reporters after a briefing on the outcome of the emergency National Security Council (NSC) meeting presided over by President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) on Thursday demanded the sack of the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, for failing to stop attacks on prisons in the country. The group was reacting to Tuesday night’s attack on the Kuje correctional centre in Abuja by the Islamic State for West African Province (ISWAP).

HURIWA demands the arrest of the persons who gave the order purportedly for the withdrawal of soldiers before the attack.” “We demand the sack of the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, and his Defence counterpart, Bashir Magashi, for perpetual incompetence. They also call for a broad-based judicial panel of inquiry on prison breaks in Nigeria to be constituted.” I want to educate HURIWA that there was a platoon of the Nigerian Army with sophisticated weapons, elite men of the Nigeria Police Force, officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence, and armed officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service, on ground during the time of the attack.

After the Abolongo, Oyo State, attack on a correctional facility, in October last year, it became apparent that a new form of attack for which correctional system was not prepared for had emerged. Correctional system was primed to prevent and foil internal disturbance and riots, not external attacks/invasion, since the facilities were usually built around police and military formations.

Aregbesola applied section 1 of the Armed Forces Act Cap A20 2004, which pointed out that the establishment and functions of the Armed Forces, which comprise the Army, Navy and Air Force, include functions as may be assigned to them by the President in consultation with the National Assembly. This was carried out by Aregbesola when armed soldiers, police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officers were drafted to correctional facilities nationwide, to secure them against further attacks. Several but unsuccessful attempts were made to attack correctional facilities since then, as the armed guards repelled them on each occasion.

Aregbesola has made Nigerian Army to complement the Police in the discharge of its duties when called upon by correctional authorities in restoring law and order in situations as contemplated in section 305 of the Constitution, which is in time of emergency. Some may justify it on the basis of Doctrine of Necessity and in the name of national security.

The consequence of the present security situation is that soldiers, who are trained statutorily to fight international aggressors, have been deployed to assist the police in performing their duties. The military have the constitutional role of defending the territorial integrity of the country against external aggression, to coordinate the enforcement of immigration law and customs, as well as to protect the country’s borders, among others. On the other hand, the police have the responsibility to protect life and property, detect and investigate crimes, and to maintain law and order. Therefore, the increasing deployment of military forces for internal security operations across the country underscores the profoundly dysfunctional state of Nigeria’s public safety institutions, particularly the ineffectiveness of the police force. By law, the police and the Army have their primary duties and responsibilities, which they are trained to do, spelt out in black and white. Section 214 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) establishes the Nigerian Police Force as the only policing authority in Nigeria.

Attacks on police, army and correctional facilities have continued across Nigeria with many officers killed in the past one year. Several police officers have been killed in the past one year in targeted attacks on police officers and correctional facilities. The attacks have occurred mainly across the regions of Nigeria.

There have been many reports of attack on formations and troops in recent months even though some are not confirmed. IF the presence of military institutions were to guarantee peace, safety and protection, Kaduna State would have emerged as the most peaceful and protected entity in Nigeria. Kaduna is blessed with not only elite military establishments but is also home to the largest number of respectable military institutions, making the state the envy of other parts of Nigeria.

Indeed, it leaves one wondering how one state managed to be so blessed with such a large number of elite military agencies, with both intimidating artillery weapons and infantry personnel with global battlefield medals. Unlike other states of the federation with the presence of one military base, a police command and a few security outfits, Kaduna has no fewer than 13 military establishments spread across the state. These are not mean institutions, and are manned by many top officials

The state is host to the elite 1st Division of the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Army Depot, Zaria, Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Nigerian Defense Industry, Nigerian Airforce Training School, Nigerian Police College and the Nigerian Navy School of Armament, Kachia. Other military institutions in Kaduna are: The Nigerian Army School of Legal Services, Bassawa Zaria, the Nigerian Defence Academy, the Nigerian Army School of Artillery, Kachia, the Nigerian Army School of Military Police, Army Operation Base, Southern Kaduna and the Nigerian Army School of Infantry.

With these and other security agencies operating in Kaduna, the state and its environs should have become a veritable military fortress that cannot be easily overrun by bandits or terrorists. But this is not the case. It has paradoxically suffered more attacks by daring bandits and terrorists than many other states in the North or any other part of the country. These audacious attacks have come in torrents and destructive fashion, leading to the killing of thousands of innocent persons, destruction of key national infrastructure and the kidnapping for ransom of very important Nigerians. Members of the armed forces have also fallen victims to the ravenous elements, which apparently are always on the lookout for top officials to maim, kill or kidnap for pecuniary gains.

As a proof, between 2021 to March 2022, security was breached around Mando, Afaka and the International Airport Kaduna with impunity. First, the criminal elements attacked the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation and abducted over 40 students, which they kept in their custody for months until their financial conditions were met by parents of the victims. Next, the terrorists descended on the premier military university, Nigerian Defence Academy, where an officer was brutally slain and another taken captive and only freed by colleagues after some time in captivity.

Do not blame Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior but the police and judiciary system for the continuous correctional facilities congestion due to slow pace of dispensing justice in Nigeria. The correctional service officials should not be blamed for lapses at the correctional yards because they have alerted the police authority and especially the judiciary on the congestion.

Correctional Centres officials make monthly updates to the Attorney General both in the states and federation on the challenges and the situation has not been addressed over the years. Every Month, the service write to the Attorney General to update them the development on the number of inmates and congestion situation but it has remained like that.

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Inwalomhe Donald writes from Abuja