Unlike Buhari, Tinubu reacts to police, military clash, warns Army

President Bola Tinubu, on Monday, frowned at the recent clash between soldiers and police in Adamawa State which led to the death a police Inspector after soldiers stormed a police headquarters to retaliate an attack on one of their own.

While reacting to the fracas, the President also issued a stern warning to the Nigerian Army to desist from carrying out retaliatory assaults on the police or the civilian population over any provocation.

Tinubu who spoke in Maiduguri, Borno State where he declared open the Chief of Army Staff Annual General Conference 2023, said his administration will never tolerate such lawlessness from security agencies in the country.

“To you, military leaders, you have a responsibility to demonstrate great character in uniform. Therefore, what happened in Adamawa State is unacceptable. Please let it end,” Tinubu said.

Tinubu had also condemned a clash between operatives of the DSS and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an office space in Ikoyi, Lagos, warning that his administration would not sit back and watch security agencies engage themselves in needless fights.

He had also condemned in strong terms, another clash between EFCC officials and those of the Correctional Service who fought over the custody of former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele after a court had granted him bail.

The admonitions from President Tinubu is a clear departure from the reclusive silence often exhibited by former President Muhammadu Buhari whenever there were such clashes between different arms of the nation’s security apparatus, and even between agencies and parastatals of government.

READ ALSO:Tinubu pledges continuous support to military in fight against terrorists, others

During the eight years of Buhari from 2015 to 2023, there were pockets of clashes between security operatives which often led to loss of lives on both sides but typical of the former president, he usually kept silent or let his underlings do the talking.

A survey carried out by Nigeria Security Tracker in 2022 had shown that during the eight years of Buhari, no fewer than 2,140 security personnel lost their lives between June 2015 and January 2023, with the deceased including personnel of the different arms of the military (Army, Air Force, Navy), the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services, Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

There were several clashes in different parts of the country especially in Lagos between Naval officers and policemen, soldiers and the police and in some instances, lives were lost in the process.

One of such clashes between Naval officers and policemen in the Satellite Town of Lagos in 2022 led to the killing of five police officers but the then President did not make a single comment on the incident.

Another clash between soldiers and police officers in Kaduna which led to the burning of a police formation and the deaths of over 13 officers also come to mind, coupled with the fact that Buhari who was out of the country at the time, did not make any categorical statement condemning the clash. Even when he returned to the country, he still did not utter a word.

The survey revealed that though most of the security personnel who lost their lives died as a result of attacks by insurgents, notably the Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists, quite a number of them also died in clashes between different forces.

The survey also noted that the number of security personnel who died during the Buhari era could have been higher than the data obtained.

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