Bid to hire mercenaries against terrorists stirs row

By ONYEBUCHI SAMPSON

Governor Nasir el-Rufai recently stirred the hornet’s nest when he said, in the wake of a gunmen attack on a Kaduna-bound train, that he and his colleagues in the northwest geopolitical region may resort to mercenaries to protect their citizens if the military fails to wipe out bandits and terrorists.

El-Rufai, who spoke to newsmen after a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari, alleged that the rising insecurity in Kaduna was an attempt to cripple the economy of the state and the north. He stressed that if military actions were not taken against the hoodlums, governors from the zone may hire mercenaries to defend their people.

He said: “That is why I have come to see Mr. President and I have said that, if these actions are not taken, it becomes a must for us as governors to take measures to protect our citizens, even if it means we will import mercenaries from outside the country to do it, if our soldiers fail.

“I swear to God, we will do that. This issue has got to an alarming state. Mr. President assured me that he will take action and that this thing will be brought to an end within months. “It is certainly an attempt to cripple the economy of Kaduna and that of northern Nigeria entirely.

All these are only happening in the north — it is a disturbing development. “All these are happening in Kaduna because people are investing in Kaduna, that is what they want to stop, they want to spoil Kaduna, which is the nerve centre of the north, the nerve centre of Nigerian politics.

“Some people say they are doing it because of me; it is not because of me, they want to fight President Muhammadu Buhari, fight our party and fight the north.”

El-Rufai further noted that the perpetrators of the attacks want to impoverish the zone because of the 2023 general election. But providing constitutional insight on the issue, a former President of West African Bar Association (WABA) and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, said section 130 of the Constitution stipulates the President is the Commanderin-Chief of the armed forces and governors are not competent to hire mercenaries to secure any part of Nigeria. He noted m that Nigerian soldiers are ready to wage the counterinsurgency operations, but are ill-equipped and illmotivated.

According to him, Nigeria has one of the best armed forces in the world but the huge funds earmarked for acquiring military hardware are cornered and stolen by some unpatriotic officers. “Members of the ruling class have a penchant for diverting the attention of our people from addressing the problems confronting our country.

“The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi has said that the Abuja-Kaduna train bomb blast could have been prevented if the security gadgets had been acquired and installed.

“It has been revealed that the Minister wanted an incompetent company to be awarded a contract of N3.7 billion to secure the train.

That was seven months ago. Why did the Minister not recommend another security agency to fix the problem and save precious lives? “For goodness sake, why were the Chinese not asked to fix the security gadgets since they constructed the train and the railroad tracks?

In 2014, the APC leaders asked President Jonathan to resign on account of the increasing wave of insecurity. “Why have the same fellows who have demonstrated worse incompetence not called it quits? Can you imagine that they want terrorists to massacre more passengers?

Without installing the much needed security gadgets the Nigerian Railway Corporation has announced that the Abuja-Kaduna train will resume services in two weeks time.”

The human rights lawyer also stressed that the Constitution provides for the creation of the Nigeria Police Council made up of the President as the Chairman , the InspectorGeneral as boss of the Police Service Commission and the 36 state governors.

He noted that the body is empowered to administer, organise and supervise the Nigeria Police Force, but for reasons best known to the governors, the council does not meet to perform its constitutional functions. According to him, because the body does not meet, the President has usurped all police powers in the country. The federal and the state governments, he said, should fund the security and welfare of the people.

“Ours is the only modern state whose capital city does not have CCTV cameras. The political leaders in Lagos boast that it is the fifth economy in Africa. “But metropolitan Lagos lacks security gadgets including CCTV cameras. Apart from physical security the federating units are not addressing the crisis of social insecurity as 90 million citizens have been forced into the cocoon of poverty. About 15 million children are roaming the streets, ready to be recruited by criminal gangs, The Trumpet gathered.

These are the challenges of insecurity to be addressed. This is not a job for mercenaries,” he added. A former director of Constitutional Watch, Aham Njoku, said that, historically, it was only during the Nigerian Civil War that both Biafra and Nigeria used mercenaries.

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The human rights lawyer said there was no constitutional provision that allows a state government to use foreign mercenaries for internal security.

He remarked: “ I think that Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s suggestion that he may use foreign mercenaries to fight terrorists in Kaduna State is based on his frustration over the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the his state. “In recent history, l think President Goodluck Jonathan used foreign mercenaries to fight Boko Haram terrorists.

“There is no constitutional provision that allows a state government to use foreign mercenaries for internal security. “I think the Federal Government in order to solve the problem of internal insecurity needs to recruit more people into the army, navy, airforce, police, the Department of State Services (DSS) and civil defence.

“Further, the government must base appointments into the top echelon of Nigerian security forces on merit and competence and not on ethnic, religious considerations or favouritism.

“A situation where people from a particular section of the country feel or are excluded from top appointments in the security architecture would lead to a low morale as they cannot put in their best in any situation.

“The President as the Commander-in Chief must have the will to sack service chiefs who are underperforming. There is also the need to cater for the welfare of security forces.

“Finally there should be established rapid response squads in the security forces in every state to respond to security threats within a maximum of 15 minutes after they have been alerted to an adverse security situation by the citizens.”