TOP 10 SECURITY EVENTS THAT SHAPED 2019

Nigerians may disagree on so many things, but they all agreed that 2019 was an event year. New security challenges were thrust up, while old issues continued to burn. As 2019 draws to an end, heralding the arrival of 2020, it becomes pertinent to look at the top 10 security concerns that shaped the outgoing year. Taiwo Jimoh reports.

The number one concerns for us, was the shooting to death of a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Usman Umar, who was in charge of operations at the Federal Capital Territory Police Command and a 23-year-old Precious Owolabi, an intern with Channels Television.

Umar and Owolabi were caught in the crossfire between the police and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (Shiites), in Abuja and Kaduna State.

The protesting members of the IMN, who took to major streets in the Federal Capital, called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to release their leader, Alhaji Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife Zeenat, who had been in the custody of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) since December 2015.

El-Zakzaky was arrested following the group’s confrontation with the military in Kaduna. Incidentally, courts have granted El-Zakzaky bail, but the federal government refused to release him, thereby forcing his followers to embark on series of protests.  In one of their protests in Lagos State, held on July 11, 2019, the members told the world they were ready to die for their leader.

The death of Owolabi and Umar stunned the world. The incident occurred on July 22, 2019. On that same day, several property, including vehicle of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was damaged. Till date, the police and Shiites have both refused to accept responsibility for either the death of Owolabi or Umar.

The second event, which stunned Nigerians speechless, was the murder of four operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and a civilian working with them. The five men, who were on covert operation in Taraba State, were killed at Wukaria area of the state, on the orders of an Army Captain. The captain was alleged to have ordered soldiers at a checkpoint along the Ibi-Jalingo Expressway in Taraba State, to attack and kill the men. The killer soldiers, attempting to exonerate themselves, said that they said the policemen were armed robbers. They also claimed that the operatives that didn’t identify themselves. Investigation later revealed that the operatives did introduce themselves and that their murder was deliberate.

The IRT Operative had gone to the village to arrest a kidnap kingpin, Alhaji Hamisu Balla, alias Wudume, in Ibi area of Taraba State.

It was alleged that the army captain, who was on the payroll of Wadume, orchestrated the attack on the IRT men in order to cause the suspect to escape. The suspect escaped, but was later tracked to his uncle’s house and re-arrested. The army captain denied knowing Wadume, but police would later trace 191 phone chats between the suspect and the captain.

While Nigerians screamed for justice, demanding the arrest and prosecution of the captain and his men, the presidency put a spook in the wheel of the drama, ordering that the military and other sister agencies form a committee to investigate the incident.

Nigerians had argued that the military should not be allowed to investigate its own crime, but the arguments fell on deaf ears. Till date, the captain and his men, who carried out the murder of the five men, have not been prosecuted, while widows, children and family members of the deceased continued to cry for justice.

The third event, which was perhaps the most difficult time for Nigeria and Nigerians in diaspora in 2019, was the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians residing in South Africa. Several foreigners living in South Africa were attacked, killed and maimed by natives. Foreigners’ shops were looted and burnt. The police in South Africa seemed unable to check the escalating violence. The leaders in SA blamed foreigners for the violence, accusing them of taking over their jobs and introducing hard drugs to their people.

On September 4, 2019 Nigerians launched counter attacks on businesses owned by South Africans in Lagos, Abuja, Akwa-Ibom and Oyo states. Nigerians and other foreigners were asked to leave South Africa or faced being continually attacked, maimed or killed.

The violence against Nigerians in SA, strained the relationship between Nigerian and SA government, leading to many Nigerians airlifted by Air Peace plane under the directives of 56-year-old Allen Onyema, the chairman and founder of Air Peace. The 2019 attack on Nigerians by South Africans was not the first time Nigerians had been attacked and killed by the natives.

Out of annoyance, the Nigerian government withdrew its ambassador from South Africa and dispatched Special Envoy.

The South African High Commission in Nigeria and MTN Nigeria’s stores hurriedly shut down for safety reasons.  After the tension had died down SA President, Cyril Ramaphosa, sent an official apology letter to Nigeria government, which helped in calming down the tensed situation.  

Fourthly on our radar is the moving story of 23-year-old Zainab Habib, who narrowly escaped death in Saudi Arabia. Zainab was supposed to be executed but she was saved by providence.

Zainab was arrested by Saudi Arabia authorities for allegedly trafficking drug into the country during a lesser Hajj. Zainab was a student of Maitama Sule University, Kano. She was arrested after 2000 packs of tramadol were discovered concealed in a luggage alleged to belong to her. Zainab’s journey to trouble started after she left Kano aboard Ethiopian Airline for a lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia on December 24, 2018. Her mother, Hajiya Maryam Habib and Sister Hajara Habib accompanied her. They had a stopover at Addis-Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia on December 25 before they proceeded and arrived at Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia on the early hours of December 26.

When they got to Jeddah, they were conveyed to Madinah in buses and they arrived around 11:30am and went straight to the hotel where their agent booked for them.

The three women were watching TV in the sitting room, when they heard a knock at the door. When the door was opened, they saw some Arabs officials, who had come to arrest Zainab for drug trafficking. They came with a luggage, which they said belonged to Zainab. They believed that Zainab left the luggage at the airport. Nigerians followed the event of Zainab breathlessly, praying that death, which is the capital punishment for drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia, should not be visited on her.

Thorough investigation, however, especially by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) in Nigeria, led NDLEA to uncovering the cartel, which specialised in planting drugs in travellers’ luggage. After much investigation, Zainab was found innocent and released by the Saudi Arabian authorities. This was four months after she was arrested.

Our fifth event was the mindboggling killings in Zamfara State. Residents of Zamfara State will not forget the bloodletting that occurred in that state in 2019 in a hurry. The killing was caused by fight for control of mineral resources spread across the state.

Gold from Zamfara State was routinely smuggled out of the state to markets in Togo, Benin Republic and Niger Republic. From there, the gold finds its way to other markets across the world, with Nigeria benefiting next to nothing.

It was gathered that the bloodletting crisis in Zamfara State had spanned two years, with death toll increasing every day. At least hundreds of victims, if not thousands, had been killed in the state since 2016 and hundreds more missing, believed to have been buried in mass graves.

In one of the attacks in 2019, over 34 people were alleged to have been killed by bandits who raided Kware village in the state.  After the attack, 34 dead bodies were counted, while many were missing. The gunmen stormed the village on motorcycles, shooting anyone on sight and burning houses.

Deadly attacks had raged across the northwest where banditry had thrived. Farming and herding communities in Zamfara and the wider region have long been terrorised by gangs who raid villages, stealing cattle and kidnapping residents for ransom. In April 2019, Kadaria Ahmed, Editor of defunct Next newspaper and other indigenes of Zamfara State marched to the Presidential Villa in Abuja to protest against killings in the state.

The protesters called on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently intervene and stop the killings and kidnappings currently going on in the state. They decried the insecurity in the state, which has resulted in apprehension, displacements of communities and loss of lives.

Following the protest, Buhari issued a statement, which reads in part: “In the face of intelligence reports that have clearly established a strong and glaring nexus between the activities of bandits and illicit miners-with both mutually re-enforcing each other, the Federal Government of Nigeria has directed that mining activities in Zamfara and other affected states are hereby suspended with immediate effect.”

The sixth event for us at the New Telegraph occurred on April 5^th, 2019.  That was the day the inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, launched ‘Operation Puff Adder.’ According to Adamu, it was part of deliberate measures aimed at curbing the excesses of criminal elements hell-bent on threatening internal security across some states of the federation.

The operation, which was carried out in collaboration with the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Department of State Services (DSS), involved massive deployment of well-trained, well-equipped and well-motivated personnel and combined operational assets from the various security agencies, tailored towards ridding the country, especially the Kaduna Abuja Expressway, Kogi, Katsina, Niger and Zamfara states of all forms of crimes and criminality.

During the launch, which took place at Katari Bishin District, Abuja-Kaduna Expressway, the IGP, while noting that no Police Agency anywhere in the world, no matter how well-trained, equipped or motivated, could solely achieve its community security and safety mandate without the support of the community, called for the full support and cooperation of the civil populace, particularly, traditional rulers, religious leaders, youth associations, market bodies, cultural associations and professionals among others in the fight against criminals especially kidnappers, armed robbers, cattle rustlers amongst others. Since the launch of ‘Operation Puff Adder’ many suspected criminals have been arrested in different parts of the state.

The seventh security challenged that repeatedly caused Nigerians to fume and take to social media outlets to express their anger as the countless abductions and robberies that took place along the Kaduna-Abuja Highways. In that year, IRT Operatives arrested no fewer than 93 suspected kidnappers and robbers who terrorising Kaduna-Abuja Highways on May 16, 2019. The police said it recovered 35 AK47 Rifles, 21 Dane Guns, 500 live ammunition and a host of other weapons, including a rocket launcher.

 According to the Force spokesman, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Frank Mba, the 93 suspects were arrested within two weeks in joint operations in Kaduna, Niger and Katsina states.

Mba attributed the successful arrests and seizures to the launch of Operation Puff Adder. He said that the operation was designed largely to tackle kidnapping; robbery and banditry giving Nigerians sleepless nights, adding that the successes recorded so far were huge.

On January 9, 2019, Operation Puff Adder also arrested 19 notorious kidnappers and armed robbers terrorising the Abuja-Jere-Kaduna-Zaria highways.

Our eighth event that shaped 2019 was the closure of the borders. On Augusts 20, the country’s borders were shut down by President Muhammadu Buhari to check activities of smugglers, terrorism and banditry in Nigeria. The closure led to the arrest of rice, fuel and drugs smugglers. Herdsmen killings, Boko Haram attacks and kidnappings, especially along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway, which used to be as constant as the northern star, were contained.

Our ninth event and tenth was the arrest of popular singer, Afeez Fashola, otherwise known as Naira Marley and Dubai based businessman Ismaila Mustapha aka Mompha who became famous for showing off the most exotic lifestyle one can only dream of on social media. Marley was arrested in May 2019, while Mompha was arrested sometimes in November 2019.

Mompha and his Lebanese accomplice, Hamza Koudeih were alleged by the EFCC to have laundered a combined N33billion.

According to the EFCC the two belonged to an international crime syndicate that did money laundering in Dubai. The EFCC acting chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, speaking on Mompha said: “I make bold to tell you that these arrests have further confirmed our commitment to the anti-graft war, while also sending a red alert to potential internet fraudsters. I am sure you will be greatly shocked to know that five wristwatches valued at over N60m were recovered from the suspect. Investigation has also revealed that he operates 51 bank accounts in Nigeria, with which he acquired properties in Dubai; and had allegedly laundered about N14bn through a firm known as Ismalob Global Investments Limited. His accomplice, Koudeih, also has two firms namely, THK Services Limited and CHK properties Limited with which he has allegedly laundered about N19bn.”

Magu further alleged that Koudeih lived in a $5m per annum suite at the Eko Atlantic Pearl Tower, Victoria Island, Lagos. Magu said actionable intelligence received from local and international law enforcement agencies had revealed that the suspects, alongside their collaborators, were high-valued targets in Organised Cyber Syndicate Network.

In the case of Marley, he was arrested in relation to advance fee fraud — Internet-related cases. The EFCC stated that intelligence reports linked Marley to cybercrime offence. He was arrested along with Tiamiu Abdulrahman Kayode, Adewunmi Adeyanju Moses and Abubakar Musa. The suspects arrested followed an early morning raid on May 10, 2019 at No. 9, Gbangbola Street, Ikate, Lekki, Lagos. The arrest and arraignment of Marley put the internet on fire, leading to the singer having an increased fan base.

Security experts, analysts and stakeholders have also x-rayed the year in review. An award-winning journalist, who also doubled as security expert and publisher, Mr. Dipo Kehinde, said that synergy between security agencies, was the only solution to the myriad of security challenges confronting the country.

Kehinde said there was always a lot to gain from good rapport between security agencies, because, “we saw what happened between the police and army when the operatives of the IRT went to arrest a suspect in Taraba State. The recently launched Operation Puff Adder by Mohammed, had army officials involved and they were deployed to join the police. The combination led to achievements of good results.”

Kehinde further said: “All this is not just the effort of the police alone. I look out for more synergy like that in the 2020, not just with the police and army alone, but other agencies like Customs, Immigration, Civil Defense, Navy, and Air Force. They should come together to work as one, for the advancement of the country. To also gain the trust of the public, An Assistant Commissioner of Police (AIG), Mr. Leye Oyebade in charge of Zone 11, Osogbo, Osun State, set up a Police Public Relations Committee, were they were able to raise funds for the betterment of the command and also get credible information from the members of the public to fight crime in the zones.”

Corroborating, Kehinde’s argument, Mr. Frank Oshanugor, a security consultant, said that about three days ago, the IGP commissioned a database where all the state commands and zones were connected. He opined that policing in Nigeria should move with the global stage by embracing digitalization.

He said: “Presently, we should not be talking about analog, the world had gone digital. If you are in Lagos to get the numbers of robbery suspects arrested six months ago, it would be difficult, but with the database, one can get results in any part of the state. There should not be disparity between the police and other security agencies. They should all be working for the same country not for their own personal gains. I want to also call on the government to give loans without interest to youths to assist them in doing medium scale business. If youths are engaged, they wouldn’t take to crime.  I pray 2020 will be a crime free one.”