At every critical juncture, Nigeria’s security agencies advertise their impunity and, above all, unhealthy rivalry. A new investigative report, which a Senate ad hoc committee has just submitted to the parliament, lays bare the deep-rooted rivalry in the ranks of the intelligence agencies. In late 2017, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Nigeria Intelligence Agency and the State Security Services had clashed openly over the procedure in arresting some public officers. The onus is on President Muhammadu Buhari to institute policies that will eradicate the egoistic drive among the agencies.
Rightly, the November 2017 disgraceful petulance of the intelligence agencies provoked a parliamentary probe. The EFCC had dispatched its agents to arrest a former Director-General of the SSS, Ita Ekpeyong, and the just retired NIA DG, Ayodele Oke, over allegations of corruption. Instead of allowing the law to take its course, the SSS agents rallied round Oke and Ekpeyong, leading to a 13-hour standoff in their Abuja homes. Nobody is above the law. It is ridiculous that the EFCC agents could not make the arrests since they possessed valid court warrants.
However, the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, who was quoted in the Senate ad hoc committee report, traced the irrational acrimony to the usurpation of the powers of his office by the security agencies. Claiming that indiscipline was rife among the agencies, the NSA warned that unless the National Security Agencies Act was amended to give full control to the NSA to coordinate intelligence operations, the agencies would always clash. For now, Monguno believes that the independence of these agencies, which also gives them unrestricted access to the President, has caused an escalation of the disharmony.
This is a risk. Indeed, the Senate ad hoc committee report stated that there were camps among the security agencies, “with the EFCC and NSA belonging to one group, and the NIA and SSS belonging to another group.” This hampers the effectiveness of delicate security operations, and the efforts to contain terrorism financing. Inevitably, a series of aborted operations bear weighty evidence of this acrimony among sister public agencies.
Among such is the October 2016 midnight arrest of two Supreme Court justices and other High Court judges. Although it is normal for government to bring judges to book when they err, the SSS did not carry along the EFCC or the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission before the operation. These two agencies, unlike the SSS, which is a secret intelligence organisation, are better placed to fight corruption; but, inexplicably, they were excluded from the assignment. In the Oke and Ekpeyong cases, Monguno told the Senate ad hoc committee that he read about the attempt to arrest them in the newspapers – just like other Nigerians.
This cankerworm had reared its ugly head in June 2017 when security agents raided the Kaduna home of Namadi Sambo, a former Vice-President. Shortly after the operation, the EFCC disclaimed it, stating that it had no hand in it. The operation became embarrassing later when the tip-off that triggered it turned out to be false.
The most damaging effect of the rivalry is in the fight against Boko Haram. Two incidents stand out. In April 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 Chibok schoolgirls in Borno State. The abduction occurred despite advanced information to some security agencies by the locals of the impending attack. In the absence of intelligence sharing or cooperation, the abductors easily achieved their nefarious aim. According to Amnesty International, the military received information of the Boko Haram attack on a secondary school in Dapchi, Yobe State, in which the insurgents stole 110 schoolgirls in February.
By working at cross-purposes, the intelligence community is exposing the country to risk, especially in the area of Boko Haram insurgency, herdsmen terrorism, kidnapping and armed robbery. Without information sharing, the Buhari administration’s mantra of fighting corruption is imperilled. Since the President assumed power in 2015, the administration has failed in its attempts at the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu at the Senate as the substantive chairman of the EFCC. In December 2016 and March 2017, the Senate rejected Magu’s nomination because the SSS wrote two separate and conflicting reports on him. While a report to the Presidency cleared him, a second report accused him of lacking integrity. Before the macabre drama, the EFCC was investigating or trying some senators, including Bukola Saraki, the Senate President. Without cooperation, the cases against the senators and other public officers accused of corruption will suffer from weak prosecution.
In spite of the official claim that Boko Haram has been “technically defeated,” the terror threat is as high as ever. This will compel the collaboration of security agencies in other climes. Having realised that the non-sharing of information created a loophole that al-Qaeda terrorists exploited in the horrific 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the United States government created the Department of Homeland Security. The equivalent of the Interior Ministry in Nigeria, it brought together 22 US government agencies, including the US Secret Service and the US Coast Guard. Its remit has been to coordinate intelligence and information sharing.
Nigeria has to take steps to end the acrimony or live permanently with Islamist terror and other crimes.
