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“Trust is an element of Hope but then commitment begets trust. I ordinarily do not know how to draw up my appreciation to the FCT Police Command under the current Commissioner of Police Mall. Sadiq Bello. Crisis management is a fundamental quality of leadership and leaders must learn or imbibe such quality.
The recent Bwari Christmas Day fracas is one that has inflicted untold hardship on the people of Bwari Area Council most especially going the number of lives lost and the properties that were destroyed through the market fire during the crisis.
Someday days after the crisis, precisely on the 2nd of January some two able bodied men from Kuduru community in Bwari Area Council were invited to Bwari Police Station, arrested and labeled with different criminal symbols. Among some of the offences of these men was that they were possessing illegal locally made fire arms and that they were machineries imported to further cause attacks in Bwari. These men after my investigation appeared to be innocent of being machineries labeled against them but, rather community vigilantes whom have served Kuduru village for 13years without any criminal record to their profile.
Thereafter, I took a humble step in contacting the Police authorities in the FCT with the view of securing bail for these gentle men whom my investigation also confirmed that there were just local vigilantes in the Kuduru community. The Police authorities under the department of Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) obliged to my submission approving bail for the two gentlemen after being held for 9days in the SARS detention facility here in Abuja. Today the 11th day of January, 2018, these men were released from the Police custody and they have since reunite back with their family and loved ones.
I sincerely once more want to commend the Commissioner of Police FCT for being community friendly. With the level of accusations and counter accusations going on since aftermath the Bwari Crisis, I wonder who would have obliged to citizens call in such a manner.
But one thing beats my imagination which is the level of “I don’t care” attitude manifested the Chairman of Bwari Area Council Hon. Musa Dikko. How would residents under his watch be arrested and labeled with such hefty allegations and yet he could fold his arms and leave such residents to their faith? I have found this act very wicked and unlike any responsible leader.
The case here could not be treated with levity and I see no reason why the chairman would have kept mute while residents who doubled as community security attaché face such gruesome time under the SARS net. Also, Reliable findings have also revealed that the FCT Area Council Chairmen are not meaningfully utilizing the security votes allocated to them. This should be a clarion call on the chairmen to be more oriented on ensuring security in and around their councils territory.
I however recommend that the the Hon. Minister & the Police Authorities find a suitable way of licensing local vigilantes or collaborating with the locals who keep vigil on behalf of their communities and tighten the security nuts of all communities within the FCT. Thereby, should they be any kind of security breakdown, reliable accounts could be gathered through the locals who are part of the communities. This collaborative mechanism should be drawn across Nigeria most especially given the facts that Nigeria is currently under policed.
Yunusa Ahmadu Yusuf
Buhun Barkonun Abuja
Spokesperson |FCT Human Rights Crusader”