NEWS ANALYSIS: Decoding the dirty games, power play between Peller, NSCDC

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) was birthed by the realization that the mainstream armed forces were overwhelmed with the task of maintaining law and order in the country, as well as securing lives and property.

The federal government adopted the Lagos Civil Defence Committee, which had been in existence since 1967, as a national para-military force, mainly to assist in the maintenance of peace and order and of protecting and rescuing the civilian population during periods of emergency.

The corps got statutory backing with the promulgation of the NSCDC Act of 2003. While it had the power to arrest criminals, it was expected to hand them over to the Nigerian Police “for further investigation and prosecution”. It continued to play second fiddle to the Nigerian Police Force, until the Act was amended in 2007 by the National Assembly, expanding its scope and objectives.

The 2007 amendment empowered the NSCDC to investigate and institute legal proceedings against persons arrested, on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation, in accordance with the provisions of the country’s constitution. This, some analysts frowned at and considered a duplication of the functions of the Police.

READ ALSO: Bill to scrap NSCDC scales first reading

On Tuesday, February 1, the House of Representatives considered a bill seeking to scrap the NSCDC and collapse it into the Nigerian Police Force.

Ripples Nigeria reported that the bill was sponsored by the lawmaker representing lseyin/ltesiwaju/ Kajola/lwajowa Federal Constituency in Oyo State, Shina Peller. He argued that the NSCDC was a “waste of scarce resources” as its functions overlapped with those of the police

The call by Peller might have annoyed some senior officers of the corps as the Oyo state command of the NSCDC withdrew its personnel attached to the lawmaker as security aides. While the move was interpreted as a show of power, the command, in its notice to the lawmaker, explained that its personnel were withdrawn for “an urgent national security assignment”.

However, hours after the withdrawal, the Commandant General of the NSCDC, Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, ordered the reinstatement of the withdrawn security aides, saying the withdrawal was unauthorized.

According to a statement signed by corps’ Director Public Relations, DCC Odumosu Olusola, the CG frowned at the withdrawal and ordered that the reinstatement be followed with “necessary courtesies to the Honourable Member.”

The statement reads, “The leadership of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has dismissed as unauthorized and without recourse to the Corps constituted authority, a letter signed and sent to a Member of the House of Representatives, Hon Shima Peller, informing him of the withdrawal of officials of the NSCDC assigned to him.

“Not only did the officer in question lack the power to do such, he was also found to have acted on his whims without clearance. The Commandant General, Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, mni, has therefore directed a reinstatement of the withdrawn officers with a compliment of necessary courtesies to the Honourable Member.”

NOT THE FIRST CALL

Meanwhile, this is not the first time a demand for the scrapping or reform of the NSCDC is coming up. In October, 2021, the Coalition of Civil Society Networks (CCSN) staged peaceful protests to the National Assembly in Abuja, to demand the scrapping of the Corps.

The group argued that if the NSCDC would not be scrapped, it should be reformed, so that it could meet up with the global standard of fighting crime.

The recent call by Honorable Peller was based on the premise that the duplication of the functions of the NSCDC and the Police has led to avoidable conflicts between the two agencies.

What is unclear however is the power play between the lawmaker and the unknown officials of the NSCDC who have turned a national agency to an instrument to flex muscles and prove their superiority over each other, letting their personal beef affect national interest.

By Oluwatobi Odeyinka

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