15 July 2008
editorial
Abuja — The frequency of news about clashes between or among uniformed personnel in the country has now reached an alarming proportion that deserve urgent attention by the authorities.
Any time this unwarranted confrontation occurs, it leave behind scores of victims who often time either lose their lives or end up in hospitals with injuries that most times leave behind an indelible scar for the rest of their lives.
Over time, events have shown how uniformed personnel clash over flimsy issues which ordinarily shouldn't have led to flexing of muscles. For example, between 2005 and 2006, military personnel in Lagos have engaged their Police counterparts in a brawl on several occasions following minor misunderstanding between their personnel. In 2006, an unidentified uniform policeman at Ojuelegba, a Lagos suburb and a military personnel who was said to be in mufti riding a motorcycle for commercial purpose reportedly engaged in a fight following alleged demand by the policeman for a bribe. The end result was the burning of a police barrack including properties and vehicles belonging to innocent people. A panel set up by the authorities made some recommendations which do not appear to have guarded against fresh occurrences as several reports of such clashes abounds in the media.
It is against this backdrop that we view the recent reported clash between members of the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC and the police in Yola, the Adamawa state capital as condemnable. The cause of the incidence according to media reports, was that a traffic warden on duty at a junction along Hospital Road, Jimeta- Yola signaled an official vehicle of the NSDC's commandant ( though report said he was not inside ) to stop for other vehicles coming from other side to pass. The report went on to say that the driver allegedly ignored the instruction. Furthermore the Civil Defence Corps driver later returned to the junction with his colleagues and beat up the traffic warden for allegedly showing disrespect to them. On hearing this, the police according to the report, launched a reprisal attack and beat up the civil defence corps members to pulp. At the end of the fracas, seven civil defence corps members and two policemen were reportedly hospitalized.
Though each side blamed the other for the clash which was the third of its kind between the two groups in the state, it is extremely disgusting and unfortunate to see two government agencies saddled with the responsibility of ensuring law and order in the society conducting themselves in such a lawless manner. This is a clear indication that the discipline among uniform personnel is gradually being eroded and replaced with arbitrariness and anarchic conduct.
Indeed the Federal Road Safety Commission ( FRSC) has of recent attributed over 60% of road accidents in the country to the reckless driving pattern of motorists; and the one exhibited by the NSCDC driver in Yola is a good example of such recklessness. This also raises the question of why government officials who should be seen as role model in the observance of law and order brazenly break the law with impunity. Government officials, especially uniformed personnel today see themselves as special group who are immune to the law of the land. They see the law as an instrument meant only to be respected by the ordinary citizens rather than for all to observe for the betterment of the society.
However, its worth mentioning that the paramount authority in traffic control rests solely on the shoulder of traffic wardens who are also integral part of the Nigeria police force. There is therefore no justification for the NSCDC personnel to resort to lawlessness. Similarly, it is wrong for the police officers to take the law into their hands. The two bodies should be seen working together rather than fighting each other. As such any disagreement between the two should be amicably resolved at all times.
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