ON CHECKPOINTS IN NIGERIA'S SOUTHEAST

A few days ago I left for Umuahia to attend, on behalf of my family, the burial and funeral ceremony of an in-laws late mother. The details of the burial, including how she was interred within the grounds of the floor of what used to be her bedroom, will form the text of my ongoing treatise on Igbo burials. For now, I'll focus on what I observed making the journey by road, especially as regards checkpoints, which has become quite topical considering the volume of traffic to the east during this festive period. 

The matter of checkpoints in the Eastern part of Nigeria isn't one that is new to the Igbo of the region, and indeed it would seem as if we've become accustomed to it. However, the fact that it appears to have outlived its usefulness, in terms of curbing security breaches, which continue to take place in spite of the siege, coupled with the fact that they now serve as extortion spots, especially of commercial vehicles, and private ones, which the security agents on the beat consider to have run foul of traffic laws, or vehicle licence and registration codes, of which the amount to be extorted is at the discretion of the armed men, and the ability of the victim to negotiate, should be a source of concern to well meaning Nigerians.

I had listened to Senator Uche Ekwunife from Anambra State, on the floor of the National Assembly just days before my journey to Umuahia, complaining about 

the inconvenience and nuisance the security checkpoints in the southeastern part of Nigeria have come to represent in recent times, and I decided to pay attention to the situation during my journey, not because I wasn't aware of the menace, or hadn't noticed them on past journeys (in fact, I remember blogging about it, as part of another story), but I hadn't considered to particularly not each of the checkpoints, as I encountered them in the East, till now. So, from Onitsha I began taking notes, and found there to be twelve checkpoints between Onitsha and my destination in Umuahia. Below is listed, the checkpoints, the arm of the security agency/agencies manning them, and their locations 👇🏿


1. FRSC + CUSTOMS + POLICE, at Oba in Anambra State.
2. POLICE, just before Ekwusigo LGA, at Ozubulu in Anambra State.
3. POLICE FEDERAL HIGHWAY PATROL, about 100m from number 2.
4. POLICE FEDERAL HIGHWAY PATROL, Okija, also in Anambra State.
5. FRSC + SOLDIERS, few metres from Total Filling Station, a popular landmark in Ihiala, Anambra State.
6. RAPID RESPONSE SQUAD, Umunoha, Imo State.
7. NIGERIA POLICE FORCE, Avu/Obosima Way, Owerri, Imo State.
8. MOBILE POLICE FORCE, Emekuku, Owerri North, Imo State.
9. MILITARY CHECKPOINT, AzaraOwalla, Owerri, Imo State.
10. POLICE, one of them with his pistol in its holster, in Aboh Mbaise, Imo State.
11. MILITARY CHECKPOINT, Umuekwule Umuopara, Umuahia, Abia State.
12. MILITARY CHECKPOINT, on Ojike Street, Umudike, Umuahia, Abia State.

Except for one of the checkpoints manned by men of the Nigerian Police Force, that our Sienna driver seemed to know the policeman that accosted him personally, the driver had to part with some money at all of the other eleven checkpoints. The men at these checkpoints seemed interested only in the money, from the drivers of commercial vehicles, and the big ones from private car drivers, with tinted glasses with or without the requisite permits, to haulage vehicles. Indeed, we came across a man who was making frantic calls to someone I guess was higher up to impress upon the men at the checkpoint to not make a fuss about his vehicle with tinted glasses.


I witnessed first hand, how much time is wasted at these checkpoints, precious time that could've been useful to run an errand within a reasonable timeframe, and wondered if those who thought of these considered the unusual scenarios that emergencies created in the first place. A fellow passenger lamented that though the civil war ended in 1970, eastern Nigeria is still under siege, and it is that, beyond any other consideration, is why there is this much security and military grandstanding in the Southeast, despite the fact that it is one of the most peaceful regions in Nigeria. Unfortunately, now that the men at the checkpoints have turned the roads to their ATM (like that of a returnee from Canada, whose story trended on Twitter a few days back, who was fleeced of six hundred thousand Naira, by men of the Nigerian Police on his way to the East), it appears unlikely that a change in the direction of reducing the checkpoints is imminent, rather the opposite is expected in view of the nature of the festive season, and the lie that heightened security and checkpoints will be needed to ensure the safety of lives and properties of travelers, to and from the East.


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- httpshttps://www.hrw.org/news

WITH A MONTH TO THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

With a month to Nigeria's Presidential Elections (between Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party, and incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives' Congress, APC),

to say the atmosphere is charged will be an understatement. Indeed, the days when one could easily predict that the results will go one way or the other is past. Maybe the way to put it is that the days of landslide victories are over, and even though there may be a frontrunner presently, it's possible that an event, or series of events very close to the elections may tilt the majority of votes from one candidate to the other. So, if you asked me now, I'd tell you that it is yet too close to call, a far cry from me four years ago when I was more confident to make a prediction, that fell totally flat to the eventual result, and led to the historic loss of a presidential election by the incumbent to the opposition.



I understand why many think that I may be wrong in thinking that it is too close to call at this time, and already gifting the incumbent with victory, and the truth is that I won't and can't totally disagree with them. This administration isn't anything like the one they ousted, and while you might be thinking about things like anti-corruption stance, integrity and other propaganda language they've regaled Nigerians with, it is with other things, and areas that make me think it different. For one, unlike President Goodluck Jonathan, who was squeamish about any Nigerian losing his/her blood by reason of his ambition, his successor is noted to have maintained an eerie silence when bloodshed followed his loss at the polls in the penultimate election before the one that brought him to power. Meaning that, he's the type that may not be unwilling to leave anything off the table, as options to ensuring he wins re-election into office for a second term.


Two, unlike his predecessor who treated the opposition with kids' gloves, President Muhammadu Buhari brooks no dissent, and does not stay his hand in pulling them down, either by roping them with corruption charges (guilty or not), or exhumation of old and cold cases, including that of murder (acquitted or not), illegal possession of arms 
or linking them with armed robberies just because the perpetrators are known to the politicians involved, as thugs and political enforcers (and it doesn't matter if the same tactics are employed by those on his side). This administration has shown it can be relentless in clamping down on perceived enemies, or those it thinks may be unyielding in towing it's desired path, should push come to shove, following a tightly contested race, which is the only way one can describe the ordeal of the present Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen.


Three, President Buhari has never conceded defeat in the elections he'd lost before the last one, in which he emerged victorious. He never congratulated those he lost to, and as president, never congratulated candidates of the opposition who won governorship positions over his partys', like with Bayelsa and Anambra States. What a free and fair election must mean to him, would be such where he's victorious. Hence, when he says he will ensure that the next elections will be free and fair, one could easily conjecture what that implies, and fear that he may not relinquish power, even if he loses the coming presidential election.


Four, this President has no qualms filling sensitive positions with close family, friends, allies mostly of his ethnic group,

or from the north. From having no urge to have a close relative of his at the echelon of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC redeployed, even based on his much touted integrity; to his unwillingness to retire the Inspector General of Police who'd reached the mandatory age of retirement, maybe by reason of how that kind of change, so close to the General Elections can impact on things (even though going by his nature, a replacement will be a northerner, of which he seems to be comfortable), yet not feeling such when it felt trite to bring down a CJN (whom he dragged his feet to announce, until he fell ill and had to travel abroad for treatment, and the then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, did the needful) for not fully disclosing his assets before the Code Of Conduct Tribunal, which if all goes according to plans, may also be replaced by a pliable northerner.


I could go on and on, but the above alone shows how difficult a task it is for former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to win the next elections. These are even beyond the politics, and the rigging, accompanied by federal might that usually accompanies such in Nigeria. Atiku's financial war chest which definitely isn't infinite cannot save him now, as the gale of high-profile defections from his camp to that of the ruling party have continued to show, and would take more than the release of embarrassing tapes, audio and video by self-exiled Reno Omokri to turn this tide around in his favour. This is because President Buhari doesn't have a following in the true sense of it, rather something in the likes of worshippers, who though they may not claim he's a god, relate to him as one. Mostly in the core north, and to a lesser extent fanatically by supporters elsewhere in Nigeria, while in the southwest it is more a political decision as they (Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu particularly) eye the presidency in 2023, without a care as to whether there'll still be a Nigeria to govern by then, should Buhari get a second chance at running Nigeria the way he'd so far done.


'kovich 



PICTURE CREDIT:
- www.dailytrust.com.ng