Help! We are surrounded by top brass of the uniformed law enforcement agencies who are doing everything in their power to enter the club of the super rich before they are retired.

It is not a new thing. The trend probably started after the civil war when members of the armed and security forces started rewarding themselves with the powers that their uniforms conferred on them.

Some of the richest Nigerians alive made their fabulous fortunes either as military or security officers (Army, Navy, Air Force, Customs, Immigration, Prisons, Secret Police, and the regular Police) or uniformed officers who occupied public or political office (Heads of State/Presidents, Service Chiefs, Ministers or Military Governors).

In a recent article he published in Vanguard and Financial Times of London, Ambassador Patrick Dele Cole put it this way: "it is said in the Nigerian military that you will never find a poor admiral".

The term: "admiral" simply represents the "generals" of the various security and law enforcement forces mandated by the constitution to provide us with protection. In other civilised countries, such top officers look forward to retiring heroically to receive healthy pensions and gratuities.

In the UK, some hope their services to the country would earn them a knighting by the Queen and possible appointment to the House of Lords.

In America, generals hope, on retirement, to be found eligible for election to high public office.

Any general who becomes a multi-millionaire is immediately placed under probe because such is not possible to attain through the normal mechanism of service emoluments.

But, as Cole rightly observes, a Nigerian admiral (general) is expected to retire a multi-millionaire. And just like in any other place, it is simply not possible for any public officer (senior security/law enforcement officers inclusive) to become super rich based on their official pay.

So, where do they get their wealth from? The answer is simple: like the proverbial rogue dogs, they chew the bones tied around their necks for safe keeping.

Recent reports suggest that this trend is assuming an alarming proportion. About a fortnight ago, there were reports that the Joint Task Force confronting the activities of the militants and criminals in the Niger Delta intercepted an illegal oil bunkering vessel allegedly belonging to one of the recently retired service chiefs.

And on being confronted by President Umaru Yar' Adua, the said officer reportedly reacted "arrogantly" and thus made the president to decide it was time to sweep clean.

What we have not heard are the consequential details of this interesting story; such as the name of this offensive ex-service chief and his cohorts, the nature of those activities and how far they possibly went in empowering the militants to the point that they were able to deliver a telling blow on Bonga oil platform on June 19, 2008.

I have a feeling that the story is likely to expose outright sabotage of the Nigerian state by this so-called service chief, who was probably driven by the greed to make the billionaires club on retirement.

And the sorry thing about this country is that having retired him, nothing further will be done to retrieve ill-gotten wealth and punish him severely under the law to serve as a deterrent to others. Rather, he would be allowed to go home and enjoy the fruits of his disservice to Nigeria.

And other security chiefs will surely take note of this and device their own means of abusing their duty posts for personal gain. And now, the biggest racket in town among the armed and uniformed forces is in the sensitive and vital area of recruitment of new officers.

We read in the media that during the recent recruitment exercises into the Immigration and Prison Services in which about twenty graduates lost their lives, applicants were first of all made to part with thousands of naira to buy forms.

Over the past week, the Police under our amiable Police Inspector General Mike Okiro also came up with a scheme to sell forms to tens of thousands of prospective applicants for police jobs. According to the story which the Police have not yet denied or even reacted to, the hefty sum of two billion naira was expected to be realised from the sale of forms.

The Police is said to have hired "consultants" to handle the recruitment exercise (perhaps in the new-fangled spirit of private/public partnership, the same process through the Yar' Adua regime wants to concession federal roads to private developers for whose interest the toll plazas are being reintroduced).

The Police, it seems, have now gotten weary of hiring their own officers. Very soon, the Force will get tired of law enforcement and hire out its constitutional duties to private security outfits! Are we to assume that it is only through "consultants" that the rogues that are infiltrating the Force will be kept at bay?

The more alarming aspect of this deal is the ratio of sharing the proceeds (I nearly said loot). The "consultants" will collect the lion's share of 1.2 billion naira, while the Police will retain the minority share of N800 million! Many people have opined that such a generous concession to "consultants" requires a close investigation of who they really are.

Chances are that they are actually fronts for the police top brass who probably packaged the scheme to water the ground towards a rosy retirement. And when confronted, a senior police source was quoted as saying that the military services have been doing the same over the years.

I am left to wonder whether the police authorities do not have one personnel who should say; "wait a minute, just because the army or navy have been doing such does not mean it is right."

Someone has to halt this ugly drift to anything-goes among our men and women in uniforms. Sanity and proper professional conduct must be restored. Society is finished if those we armed to protect us are allowed to use those same guns to rob us!

Papa Wemba not dead?

Since I wrote an article entitled: "Papa Wemba, a tribute to an African maestro" (Thursday August 28th 2008) I have received a lot of calls and mails suggesting that Papa Wemba is not the one that died (see some of them below).

One of my earliest callers was a Nigerian living in Lubumbashi, the Congo Democratic Republic, who said that the dead musician was Papa Wendo, who was 82. Apart from the story on The Guardian of Saturday, 16th August 2008, on searching the internet, I saw another story entitled: "Day Papa Wemba died" written by Botsalo Ntuane in the Sunday Standard.

Also, a Wikipedia biography of the great Papa Wemba, which I had read earlier on, now had a new entry: "he died on the 5th of August, 2008". Calls made to the Congolese Embassy in Nigeria through the numbers advertised in their site did not go through.

Anyway, it will definitely be good news to millions of his admirers if indeed he is still alive. Our sincere apologies. So, Papa Wemba should honour this hilarious end to the story by giving us a new album. Below are some of the write-ups disclaiming the demise of Wembadio Thabani.

I refer to your article on Vanguard, August 21, 2008 captioned 'Papa Wemba: Tribute to an African Maestro'. I must commend you on the accurate facts about the life of this great Congolese artist, but I would like you to know that Papa Wemba is not dead, but it was another legend of the Congo-Kinshasa music that died recently in the person of WENDO KOLOSOYI, aged 82.

He is the father of the Congolese modern music. Franco, Tabu Ley Rochereau, Kalle Kabasele, etc were all products of his talent.

I am a fan of the African music and right now we are into a project called AFRICANS IN DIASPORA INTERNATIONAL, here in Ibadan and your flair and vast knowledge of the African music will be of great benefit to our project when it comes to discovering and promoting those illustrious sons and daughters of Africa in the field of entertainment.

I sincerely hope that in due time we shall meet and you will give us the opportunity to browse through the 5,000 carefully selected musical tracks in your PC.

Name withheld on request

I am an avid fan of kwasa kwasa songs, though a Nigerian. I don't think Papa Wemba (Zape maestro) is dead.

It was another Papa something, I forget the name now. Thank you. My main Congolese man is Werrason. Ouch!

Taiwo Olaniyi.

The dead rumba maestro is Antoine Wendo Kolosoy, alias "Papa Wendo". He was aged 82. Cheers!

Dr. Emma K. Anizoba