OpinionOPINION: AS DAURA TACKLES SULEIMAN OVER FULANI INTEREST

OPINION: AS DAURA TACKLES SULEIMAN OVER FULANI INTEREST

Last week the sultan of Sokoto made a call for the arrest of Pastor Suleiman Johnson of the Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide for allegedly asking Christians to take self-defensive measures to protect their precious lives from being taken away by the marauding armed Fulani attackers.

In a typical case of a witch crying at night and a nursing mother loses her baby, within a twinkle of an eye, the Department of State Services (DSS) invaded the hotel room of Pastor Suleiman in Ekiti as soon as they noticed that he was in Ekiti State, South west Nigeria for religious crusade.

But the nocturnal attempt to whisk Pastor Suleiman away was truncated when Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State stormed the hotel thinking it was a robbery operation and as soon as the DSS operatives sighted the convoy of the State governor they took to their heels.

Glo

This night time operation in a season of frequent armed kidnapping of citizens by a variety of hoodlums who extract ransom payments from relatives of the abducted victims is to put it mildly unbecoming of an agency of government recognised under extant legal statutes.

This attempt at abducting the man of God got several knocks from men/women of good will understandably but the hierarchy of the DSS never mind the public scrutiny that this action brought.

But the DSS have pressed on with their resolve to respect the public call of the Sultan of Sokoto to arrest the fiery Pentecostal Pastor just for exercising his Constitutional freedom of expression. Has the Sultan of Sokoto become the final authority in picking and choosing who should be arrested? Anyway, the DSS has formerly written to the Pastor to appear before them at the DSS headquarters in Abuja on Monday January 30th2017 for interrogation.

Pastor Suleiman is said to be willing to honour the invitation of the DSS. From available information the man of God has honoured the invitation by DSS.

But question still lingers regarding why the DSS has failed to stop the incessant attacks which are largely premeditated and carried out by well-armed Fulani herdsmen, but are quick to invite for interrogation a Christian leader who has simply advised rational Nigerians to protect their right to life. Is there more to it than meets the eyes?

The impression being created is that some ‘sacred cows’ that are well armed and are unleashing unprecedented violence can go on but the law abiding Nigerians at the receiving end of the attacks by these primitive brutes cannot contemplate adopting self Defence as a way of preserving their lives. This attitude is crude and unconstitutional because the dead can’t enforce their human rights.

The DSS hierarchy has clearly created the public image that they are prepared to do nothing to stop Fulani armed attacks but will do something to stop Christian leaders from mobilizing their members to take all necessary actions to remain alive.

This attitude is antithetical to constitutional democracy and the rule of law and must be halted before it becomes a norm which would inevitably create anarchy and chaos in the society for no sane human being can accept to stand by and be slaughtered.

What are indeed the roles, duties, functions of the State Security Services (SSS) and not DSS because the nomenclature of DSS does not exist in any valid statute book known to any Nigerian?

The search for the function of the DSS will lead us to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the legal claim that the DSS does not have power of arrest.

Those who doubt the powers of arrest of the DSS are holding on to the police Act which ascribes the statutory role of arrest to the Nigeria Police force.

Specifically, Part two of the Police Act of April 1943 in section 4 states thus: “the police shall be employed for the prevention and detection of crime, the apprehension of offenders, the preservation of law and order, the protection of life and property and the due enforcement of all laws and regulation with which they are directly charged, and shall perform such military duties within or without Nigeria as may be required by them by, or under the authority of this or any other act”. Besides, the Nigerian Constitution makes the Nigeria Police answerable to the National Assembly organizationally.

Secondly, our quest on the duties of the DSS is imperative because the knowledge of the legal functions of the DSS will automatically let us know if the DSS should exclusively focus her attention towards protecting Fulani herdsmen because the President is Fulani even when Fulani herdsmen responsible for many bloody attacks leading to over 6000 deaths are yet to be arrested, charged and punished in accordance with the extant laws of Nigeria.

The law setting up the State Security Services (SSS) can be found in the National Security Agencies Act of 5th June, 1986.

The law said as follows: “There shall, for the effective conduct of national security, be established the following National Security Agencies, that is to say­ (a) the Defence Intelligence Agency; (b) the National Intelligence Agency; and (c) the State Security Service.”

The General duties of the National Security Agencies are; “(1) The Defence Intelligence Agency shall be charged with responsibility for­ (a) the prevention and detection of crime of a military nature against the security of Nigeria; (b) the protection and preservation of all military classified matters concerning the security of Nigeria, both within and outside Nigeria; (c) such other responsibilities affecting defence intelligence of a military nature, both within and outside Nigeria, as the President, or the Chief of Defence Staff, as the case may be, may deem necessary.

Again the Act states thus:”(2) The National Intelligence Agency shall be charged with responsibility for­ (a) the general maintenance of the security of Nigeria outside Nigeria, concerning matters that are not related to military issues; and (b) such other responsibilities affecting national intelligence outside Nigeria as the National Defence Council or the President, as the case may be, may deem necessary”. Importantly the aforementioned statute says thus:”(3) The State Security Service shall be charged with responsibility for­ (a) the prevention and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria; (b) the protection and preservation of all non­military classified matters concerning the internal security of Nigeria; and (c) such other responsibilities affecting internal security within Nigeria as the National Assembly or the President, as the case may be, may deem necessary.”

From the foregoing, it is clear that although Department of State Services does not have unambiguous power of arrest, but by and large their major function is to detect and prevent such catastrophic criminal violence, the type that armed Fulani marauders have unleashed on different communities including the mainly Christian communities of Southern Kaduna, Plateau, Benue, Enugu and Abia States. Sadly some characters marooning within the confines of the current Presidency have converted state security apparatuses to serve their primordial ethno-religious agenda to such an ignoble level that the special media assistant to Mr President Alhaji Shehu Garba to appear on Channel television and show no remorse over federal government’s failure to stop the massacre by armed Fulani terrorists of Southern Kaduna Christians. The same person has justified the invitation by DSS of Pastor Suleiman.

By their enabling law the DSS is not to make itself the law enforcement wing of the Sultan of Sokoto or the Islamic religion but must operate as a national institution that must help Mr. President to discharge his fundamental role as an elected President which is located in the constitution of Nigeria in Section 14 (2) (b) thus: “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” Section 10 of the Constitution says Nigeria has no state religion.

Regrettably, the entire security forces have let the people down and have allowed the armed Fulani marauders to operate like hydra-headed monsters.

The failure of DSS and other Security forces to check the incessant killings of Nigerians is a clear violations of the Nigerian Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 3 and 7 thus: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person” and “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.”

The security forces stood by whilst armed Fulani terrorists kill hundreds of farmers in Agatu community of Benue state, Southern Kaduna and Abia and Enugu States. The DSS till date hasn’t updated Nigerians on the stage it has reached against the armed Fulani terrorists who kidnapped Nigeria’s former Secretary to the central government and Finance minister CHIEF OLU FALAE.

Armed Fulani terrorists killed a first class Delta state traditional ruler since last year but the few suspects paraded by the police for this dastardly crime are yet to be convicted. The DSS were in Nigeria when armed Fulani terrorists kill scores of Enugu farmers including a Catholic senior Seminarian but did nothing but were quick to stop a public lecture by Igbo youth in Awka Anambra State to honour the memory of General Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu who led a three year war to create a Biafra Republic after thousands of igbo women and children were madsacred by armed youth in Northern Nigeria without the then General Gowon ever taking action to stop the pogroms and bring the perpetrators to justice. The pre-civil war scenarios are beibg replayed but officials of DSS are just playing with fire by doing nothing to stop the fulani massacres of other Nigerians.

There are uncountable numbers of crimes committed by armed Fulani terrorists for which the DSS failed to stop. Even in Jigawa state armed Fulani terrorists kill and maim local Hausa farmers but DSS did nothing. Why is the DSS harassing Reverend Suleiman for encouraging Nigerians to take lawful action to avoid falling prey to rampaging Fulani marauders? Reverend Pastor Johnson Suleiman has done nothing wrong in asking his members to protect their right to life.

The Sultan of Sokoto in this dispensation has on many occasions urged Muslims to fight whomsoever stops them from practicing their religion and the DSS never invited him.

The Kaduna State governor Mr. Nassir El Ruffai reportedly admitted paying armed Fulani herdsmen to stop killing Southern Kaduna Christians and DSS has yet to invite him for interrogation. DSS should not destroy Nigeria by instigating needless religious wars.

The President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar a retired Army senior Colonel, has only last July called on Muslims to fight anybody or group that attempts to stop them from performing their religious obligations.

He said, ”the only thing that will make me to act or ask you to act is only when somebody or a group or some other nations decide to stop us from performing our religious obligations. That is the only way we can fight somebody.”

He made the statement while speaking at a conference organized by Da’wah Co-ordination Council of Nigeria. In Abuja and Kano Islamists have cut off heads of Christian women but DSS hasn’t arrested these street urchins.

The DSS should stop stoking the embers of religious divisions and must be patriotic enough to go after armed Fulani terrorists who are killing Nigerians. They must stop the clampdown on Christian Leaders. Nigerians have sacrificed a lot to create the unity we are witnessing. The DSS must not put asunder to the unity of Nigeria through the divide and rule tactics of enforcement.

Written by Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria.

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