By Olusegun Olanrewaju
The long-drawn war for the establishment of state police as a crucial item on the federal restructuring menu took a bold step backward last week. Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, stoked a war over the control of the police in the states of the federation sending shockwaves on the issue of state police argument nationwide.

It was predicated on who controls the police at that level of government; the governors, as chief security officers (CSOs), or the federal authorities, especially the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) or Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), in Abuja?

The highest reaction from the babel of voices that trailed the controversial spat between the Lagos governor and a police officer, Chief Superintendent (CSP) Abimbola Owewole at Magodo Estate 2 came from President Muhammadu Buhari who bluntly declared that the issue of state police might not be worth re-visiting because of inherent grenades packed with the package.

Everybody commented: ethno-religious groups, political associations, and parties, as well as the media (regular and social), but state governors, who were siding with one of their own, took great offence to an alleged insult passed on one of them, calling for the immediate institution of state police and other vigilante groups like the South-West’s Amotekun (leopards).

How the matter became a national debate
It all started with a trending video highlighting that Lagos State Governor, Sanwo-Olu, was ‘openly defying’ an order that a CSP vacates the Magodo estate in Lagos, which had been embroiled in a neighbourhood war over a Supreme Court judgment execution and enforcement on the same sent by IGP through the AGF.

The video showed the Lagos governor engaging a continuously stooping police officer in a nervous chat amid heavy police presence around the estate. Before then, there had been altercations between the landlords in the estate and state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, over the planned demolition of a ‘right of way’ in the estate’s gate.

The estate residents had taken to the street on the morning of January 4 to protest the continuous presence of policemen in the estate. A few weeks before, police officers (from Abuja) numbering about 50 had stormed the estate in the company with some persons alleged to be land grabbers to demolish the houses. They said they were acting on a court order obtained from the Supreme Court.

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When they were forced to stop executing their order, the policemen laid siege to the estate that eventually led to the physical appearance of the governor.
On arrival, the governor was shown pointing to the police contingent leader who openly defied his order to vacate the estate. Meanwhile, before the arrival of Sanwo-Olu, residents of the estate had staged a protest to condemn the planned takeover of their properties.

They decried the invasion of the estate by a team of policemen alleged to be providing security for court bailiffs who were said to have sealed some properties in the enforcement of a Supreme Court judgement.

The placard-carrying residents, armed with various inscriptions, listed their concern, faulting the continued presence of the police team despite an earlier intervention by the governor.

Speaking with the governor, the CSP was saying that he and his men were manning the estate on the orders of the federal attorney-general and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba.

But responding, the governor asked CSP to call his ‘superiors’ in Abuja to give him orders to vacate the premises. “Can you tell your superiors in Abuja that the governor is here, and I am the chief security officer, and that you have no business being in my state?”

However, CSP Oyewole asked the governor to make the call himself, saying “When I make that phone call, it will be tougher.

Sanwo-Olu also stated that he had earlier made two separate phone calls to the IGP and the AGF and that Malami told him he was not aware of any deployment of police officers to the area. According to the governor, police officers had no business manning the estate as they were not from the Lagos State Police Command.

The police officers did not mind the governor. They refused to vacate the estate. A report even added that no sooner had the governor departed from the scene than the police officers started singing and gyrating, obviously celebrating their ‘victory’.

A source who spoke with ThisNigeria said the governor came in the company of some of his cabinet members in a bid to speak with protesting residents of the estate. The delegation included the state Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Moyosore Onigbanjo, and the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, among others.

Trouble, however, started when the governor Sanwo-Olu said: “Can you call your superiors in Abuja and tell them that the governor is here and as the Chief Security Officer, you don’t have any business being in my state right now and that I want you to disengage right now?”

To this, the CSP leading the police contingent said, on a note of respect, “I am here on the instruction of the Inspector-General of Police through the AGF. I am too small or too low to call them. Your Excellency sir, you can call them sir.”

When the governor raised the bar of argument, requesting to know the number of policemen at the estate, the CSP grew defiant, saying, “My men are here; they are all over the place, I cannot precisely tell you how many we are. For security purposes, I cannot tell you the number.”

The governor thus accused the security team of being on an ‘illegal operation’ in his state, vowing to make “some calls to the IGP and the AGF”.

Fresh brouhaha on federalism
Sanwo-Olu’s consequent statement was to snowball into a fresh national verbal war on the vexed issue of federalism.

He said, “They (policemen) are not from the Lagos State Police Command. They said they are from Abuja. I don’t know what other interests they have beyond keeping the peace of the country. This is not an expectation that I expect from them because they don’t have any business here.”

Questioning the motive behind the operation, the governor stressed that the issue only involved the state government and had nothing to do with the residents in the first place.

“It is a very illegal operation,” said a visibly angry governor. “They (policemen) are not from the Lagos State Police Command. They said they are from Abuja, and I don’t know what other interests they have beyond keeping the peace of the country.
“This is not an expectation that I would expect for them because they don’t have any business here at all. The case is between the state government, and I am the governor standing in front of you, not with my residents.”

Quasi-precedence
Before the disturbing altercation, IGP Usman Baba had been embroiled in an argument over the federalist tendency, especially as relates to security and policing. He was alleged to have said that as ‘mere’ elected governors, robed as Chief Security Officers (CSOs) of their states, “they have no single control over the police”.

According to the IGP state governments had only always been supporting the police that they do not have control over.

On the other plane, arguments have been advanced that the AGF, as a political appointee, wields more powers than the governors. Recall that the AGF had also alleged that Sanwo-Olu acted with impunity on the Magodo matter.

Governors in the South West region of the country have condemned the incident that occurred in the Magodo Phase 2 Estate area of Lagos State where a Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, failed to listen to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s instruction over the invasion of the estate by policemen.

In a statement issued by the governors, which the Chairman of the South West Governors’ Forum, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, personally signed, stated that the attitude of the CSP was not only disgraceful but also disconcerting.

While describing the incident as a brazen assault on decency, Akeredolu in the statement issued on Wednesday lashed out at the Attorney General, Abubakar Malami over his role in the situation as he termed it an “act of gross moral turpitude.”

Akeredolu who also stated that the IGP must explain the justification for the intrusion maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari must reign in the excesses of those under him.

The Chairman of the South West Governors who assured Sanwo-Olu of his colleagues’ support, however, advised the Lagos State Governor to deploy the Amotekun Corps for effective protection and security of his people.
“We have a video which has gone viral on the social media concerning the disgraceful exchange between a police officer, a CSP, and the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwoolu, the supposed Chief Security Officer of the State, at the Magodo Residential Estate.

“The content of the video is very disconcerting, and this is being charitable. The utter disrespect, which underlines the response of the officer to the Governor establishes, beyond doubt, the impracticability of the current system, dubiously christened “Federalism”. An arrangement, which compels the Governor of a State to seek clarifications on security issues in his jurisdiction from totally extraneous bodies or persons, is a sure recipe for anarchy.”

Earlier Brooks Estate face-off with Lagos CP
Lagos State Police Command has reacted to reports that Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, locked down Brooks Estate in Magodo, Isheri, on New Year’s Day.

In a statement on Sunday, Public Relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the purveyors were out to blackmail the CP “for personal reasons”.
The spokesman said Odumosu, recently promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector-General of Police, visited the estate for an event. Ajisebutu noted that he was accompanied by armed security details, driven in his official car bearing an official number plate and a pennant.

The police recalled Odumosu was denied access by “overzealous private security guards” despite the proper introduction and reason for the visit.
The PRO said appeals to allow him to go in to meet a colleague at a function where a security matter was to be discussed fell on deaf ears

“When it became obvious that the security men were going overboard, the CP after about 30 minutes of humiliation, ordered the arrest of four of the security men, leaving one. “However, in order not to make the Estate porous, the Commissioner of Police immediately posted armed policemen at the gate to support the security man left behind. “A few minutes later, a female resident, later identified as Adebola Fatiregun, who didn’t witness the incident, stormed the gate in anger, inciting other residents.”

Adebola was arrested for inciting violence and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace. She and others were taken to the Isheri Police Division where they made statements. The statement said all were subsequently released following the intervention of notable individuals and that at no time did Odumosu shut the estate. The police maintained it was the residents, in solidarity with the arrested security men, that closed the gate, creating a temporary gridlock.

The security agency reminded Nigerians that the constitution provides for freedom of movement and empowers the police to enter any public place at any time.

Malami’s response
AGF Malami also reacted in his defence and that of the federal authorities. Describing the South-West governors’ position on the issue as unjustifiable, he affirmed that the policemen were in the state and estate to enforce a Supreme Court order. Whether the state governor had a foreknowledge is a different matter, a lawyer confided in ThisNigeria on Friday.

Malami, in a statement from his office, said: “The office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice takes exception to the South-West Governors unjustifiable insinuation of impunity against the office of the attorney-general over the execution of a judgment of the supreme court.
“The press release came to us as a surprise. We see it as vituperation of ulterior motives of some political class who derived pleasure in dragging the name of Malami in the mud to achieve some sinister objectives.”

The President’s intervention
Following the altercation and the ripples generated on state policing, restructuring, and federalism generated in the wake of the argument, President Buhari restated his rejection of the clamour for state police as a solution to the worsening security situation in the country.

Speaking during an interview with Channels Television, he said: “State police is not an option. Find out the relationship between local governments and the governors. Are the third tiers of government getting what they are supposed to get constitutionally? Are they getting it? Let the people in the local government tell you the truth; the fight between local governments and the governor.”

“I am not convinced (about state policing),” Buhari maintained, adding, “Can the states be able to shoulder the burden of the police? You cannot just give someone guns and ammunition, train him, and refuse to pay him. You know what will eventually happen.”

Nigerians differ on comments
Prominent citizens, activists, lawyers (including senior advocates), political groups took their turns to comment on the president’s position.

Elder statesman, Chief E.K. Clark; National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Iyorchia Ayu; Ohanaeze Ndigbo; Afenifere; Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF); Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Middle Belt Forum (MBF) leaders and leading pro-democracy activist, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, expressed disagreement on the issue like they had always maintained, with the president.

But some Nigerians reacted to the development of social media. One Dr. Dipo Awojide posted @OgbeniDipo on January 4, “I am so angry. Useless police or army officer from Abuja can move mad in a state without the governor being able to control them. Whatever the issue is, should the CSP not at least have obeyed the governor? “Orders from Abuja.” This is a mess.

The same day, J.J. Omojuwa commented @Omojuwa: “What happened between Governor -Oand that CSP shouldn’t happen in any state. Beyond politics, (it) boils down to our acceptance of lawlessness. If we want to do this Federalism, let’s do it. If we don’t want to, let’s stop pretending. How can you undermine a governor like that? “Sanwo Olu acted weak here. As he has established that the AGF and the IGP were not aware of their presence, he could have directed his DSS to arrest the police unit for impersonation until the police come to claim them. State Police are very necessary. That CSP that defied Sanwo Olu will be disciplined; whether he was courageous or not is another matter entirely,” a respondent, posted @Letter to Jack.

A lawyer’s ‘objective’ look
Appraising the Sanwo-Olu versus police face-off, a Lagos lawyer, R.O.Y Ogbara, traced the matter to the alleged refusal of the Lagos State government to comply with a Supreme Court judgment on the situation in Magodo Estate, ab initio.

He told ThisNigeria in his chambers in Ikorodu on Friday that the crisis had erupted over the modalities for enforcement of the apex court in the federation’s order regarding credit execution which had drawn a contention between the state government and landlords in the estate.

According to him, that was why the matter was referred to the Supreme Court in Abuja in the first place, as the Magodo residents had resorted to the apex court for relief on judgment.

Ogbara seriously berates Governor Sanwo-Olu for even leaving his seat to go to the venue of the crisis in the estate in the first place “when he could have detailed senior civil servants or political aides to handle the matter. “Sanwo-Olu has embarrassed the seat of government in Lagos State State. His action was unwarranted and uncalled for. He has demeaned his office,” the lawyer said.

His words, “The matter relates to the Sheriff and Civil Protest law on judgment execution. When the governor heard that security officials had come from Abuja, he should simply have called the IGP or AGF, both of whom he had their numbers, on the phone. He doesn’t have to go to Magodo physically to embarrass everybody.”

A commentator took a retrospective view of the whole issue of federalism and restructuring. Writing in a national daily, Charles Onunaiju penned: “Nigerian political discourse is currently at a boiling point. The theme of political restructuring and its other associated derivatives as devolution of power, true federalism, fiscal federalism, resource control etc are not new, but have recently acquired strident passion, while no proper interrogation of its meaning and essence is really on offer.”