Adewole Ajakaye, a former Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), served in many capacities in the force before retiring in 2008. He was part of the team at the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) that laid the foundation for the emergence of what is now known as Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). Now into security consulting, Ajakaye, a Deputy Force Public Relations Officer who joined the Police in 1976, in this interview with LAOLU ADEYEMI in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, bared his mind on national issues, including the security situation in the country, ways to address the Boko Haram menace, bribery in police force and others.WHAT is the hallmark of your service in the Nigeria Police'I served in various capacities in the Nigeria Police Force. I served in the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) in Lagos for about two years as the Commissioner of Police (CP).There, I was privilege to be one of those in the unit that served in a committee set up by the government, comprising members from different ministries and security agencies, which worked for about one year and prepared the way for the birth of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Our committee then opened the way for the EFCC.I served as Commissioner of Police in Lagos State for a year before I was promoted to the position of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in December 2005.From this place, I was posted to Zone 9 comprising Abia, Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi states, with headquarters in Umuahia. I later moved to Lokoja Zonal Command for about six months, then to Zone 6.I retired in 2008 in Calabar and was honoured by my people as the Are Jagunmolu of Okaland in appreciation of my excellent work during my service years.What is your appraisal of EFCC since its emergence'I think they are trying their best, functioning under the political elites of this country, who are mostly the same people the EFCC is always after.Another thing is that the EFCC is directly placed under the Presidency, so there is little they can do without the influence of the Presidency. If made independent of anybody, it could do better. The impediments they are facing are enormous.But I think government should address the issue of the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC). I think they ought to be merged and the best time to do that is now.What were the major challenges you faced that those in service could learn from'There were so many challenges, but not very serious one. The only thing I can remember as a retired police officer was the lack of trust by the senior officers. When your superior officer does not trust you, it is a great problem, because trust is very important in any organisation, and I suffered for it.There was an instance that I did something with patriotism and service to my country, but my superiors doubted me, thinking I must have collected something before rendering such service, whereas I did not do something like that. They thought I could not have done it without being corrupt.How would you assess the police today, in terms of function, efficiency and shortcomings'I think the Nigeria Police has been trying its best to serve the purpose of its establishment, but Nigerians and even the government have not truly appreciated the force, maybe because of some bad eggs in the force who through one way or the other soiled the name of the institution.If they do, people will not be talking evil of the police and government itself would have provided sufficient resources to make it work properly.It is unfortunate that some people in the force have soiled the integrity of the organisation; those bad eggs have given the public wrong perception about police.Probably it is because policemen and women are everywhere and that is why everybody talks about them. Otherwise, there are other organisations in the country doing the same thing.Government needs to pay more attention to the Police by providing adequate funds and resources to them, in terms of salary, equipment and accommodations to make them highly motivated.As an organisation, there will certainly be some headaches.Even individuals and corporate body have their own problems and insufficiency.What is your assessment on the security situation in Nigeria'To me, the security situation in Nigeria is not abnormal, because our politics had become a do-or-die affair, unemployment is so high and the salary not enough for those fortunate to be working, while some people are living in luxury. When you add all these ingredients together, the result can never be sweet, but bitter.I think a lot needs to be done to better the living condition of Nigerians. Everybody has to contribute enough to boost the security situation.Community policing must be encouraged to make our police work effectively, because they need information to work. Everybody has to be a security officer; security must become a responsibility of all.Again, government needs to fund the police adequately and stop this duplication of duties of security agencies. For instance, there is nothing bad in government merging the Civil Defence Corps and the Nigeria Police Force, because they serve almost the same purposes.Do you think the Police should be decentralised'I think government needs to decentralise the police. This is a federal system of government and I think federal government should have its police, just as states and local governments should have theirs.If we want to be sincere with ourselves, Nigeria need to allow each state to have its independent police, because there is little directive a state governor could give to the Commissioner of Police in the state without necessarily referring to the Inspector general of Police (IGP) at the centre.In any case, each state has it own culture that could be better understood by the people from there. The issue of cultural and ethic challenges would be overcome and crime would be highly curtailed.What is your take on the Boko Haram menace'Everybody seems to be disenchanted by the happenings in our country and the masses want quick action of government to tackle the problem.It is not that the government is not doing well, but it is because the problem has accumulated for over a period of time and Nigerians want quick reverse to the ugly trends. People want speed and expediency in addressing the issue, but government is trying.Boko Haram is a rehearsal of how society has been carrying on before. It is a reaction from a certain parts of the country to express dislike for some things. Not everybody is happy about the way country is being run. Boko Haram members have come to disclose their pains.I also think government did not pay apt attention to Boko Haram at the early stage. I was privileged to be the Commissioner of Police in BornoState and remembered in October 2005, some people they called the Talibans attacked the police and I was briefed about it around 1.am.I only heard the person saying, 'CP, Bama is burning' and before I could say anything, the phone went dead. They killed the Area Commander and five other policemen.I later called my Area Command and the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) to get briefed on the situation. Afterinforming my IGP, we set out to the place with the help of the Army by 3.am and it took us about 10 days to dislodge the so-called Talibans, who were on the hill. Seventeen of them were killed and 17 captured, while some of them ran into Cameroun.We interviewed them before transferring them to Force Headquarters in Abuja. I wrote my report and a month later, I was transferred from the place and I don't know what happen again.From your own preliminary interview, who do you think those Talibans were'They consisted of youths from the age 18 and came from different parts of the country. They claimed they got trained in Yemen and Mogadishu and were working towards establishing an Islamic Republic in Borno State.Did they disclose their sponsors'I didn't know, because we took them to the Force Headquarters in Abuja. All I did was preliminary interview.Meanwhile, the same group had earlier killed three policemen in Yobe in 2003, after which some of them were killed and others ran away.I think the government then did not pay serious attention to this menace until it metamorphosed into a big thing call Boko Haram.What is the way out'I think the Talibans or Boko Haram members are mainly Nigerians and they are our brothers and sisters and I don't see anything wrong in dialoguing with them; dialoguing with them is not a bad thing.If my son goes against me, fighting him would not the solution. I have to call him and ask him what went wrong. From there, I will know the best way to solve his problem.Most wars are settled with dialogue and it costs more to fight a war than to settle the issue. So, government should employ dialogue in tackling the menace of Boko Haram. It can use carrot and stick.Are our international borders not too porous, thereby making it easy for illegal aliens to come and leave at will'I am not an immigration officer, but I have travelled across these borders in course of discharging my duties and I think they are porous.Government needs to do something to improve security of our borders, because there should be distinct demarcation between our borders and other countries.What is your view on life imprisonment for kidnapping'If robbers get capital punishment, what stops kidnappers from getting a stiff sanction to serve as deterrent to others' Once you are kidnapped, the probability of coming back alive is 50-50. If a robber comes to your house and shoots you, and cart away your properties, it is as the same as kidnappers.So, there should be a stiff sanction against kidnapping because it is fast becoming a scourge in Nigeria. After punishing them, government could as well move further by confiscating the house where the kidnappers carried out the operation.Do you support the proposed removal of fuel subsidy'Though I am not an economist, but I believe if subsidy is removed, the situation will not be palatable. If governmentprimarily exists for the welfare and security of citizens, then subsidy should not be removed, because that will certainly affect the masses, since there may be rise in inflation. It is the masses that will bear the brunt, not top officials.Government should not remove it, as doing so would be tantamount to truncating the primary purpose of government. Anything by either by the citizens or the government to inhibit the peace of the country should not be entertained.
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