Aregbesola Must Go

By Adebayo Adedeji

On November 17, 2021, the Kenyan leader, Uhuru Kenyatta, fired the country’s prison chief, Wycliffe Ogalo, over terrorist jailbreak. He did not entertain any excuse. He was tired of such excuses. He only wanted results. And he felt sacking the appointees who failed to discharge their responsibilities was the first step in seeking solution confronting the country’s prison management.

Similarly in Nigeria, on 6th December 2014 when a jailbreak was recorded, the Niger comptroller of prisons was sacked and all other officers on duty that day were suspended by Abba Moro, the then Minister of Interior. Again, in the wake of incessant escape of inmates from some prisons in the country , the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Service Board (CDFIPB), on August 16, 2016, approved the dismissal of 23 prisons officers and suspension of 11 for their complicity in the escape of inmates from prisons in their care. That was the period General Abdulrahman Dambazau was the Minister of Interior.

But today, under the headership of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, there seems to be no end in sight regarding the incessant jailbreaks which have now become “pure water” and an embarrassment to the country.

Notwithstanding the telltale evidence of operational lapses in the country’s prisons, the leadership of these custodial facilities continue to offer excuses to shield their lapses so as to keep their jobs. There is no available data to suggest an officer of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) has been reprimanded over jailbreak.

In the last one year alone, there have been no fewer than 16 incidents of jailbreaks across the country where more than 6000 inmates have escaped. Of the number, close to 5,000 of the escaped inmates have not been found. The situation is worrisome; therefore, it behooves on all patriots to come to the rescue. The impact of the frequent jailbreak on our fragile security situation is enormous because more criminals, now out of custody, will be available to perpetuate heinous crime.

In the light of the above, many citizens daily call for actions from relevant authorities to stem the tide because one jailbreak motivates another.

The Senate President’s recent comment on the Kuje jailbreak and how the leadership of the prisons has failed in their duties affirms the loss of confidence Nigerians now harbour for the leadership of Aregbesola and the Nigerian Correctional Service he supervises.

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Like in NCS where his leadership is void, Aregbesola is also having issues in other agencies under him. There is hardly any reputable media that has not chronicled how obtaining a Nigerian travel passport has become a cesspool and an avenue for many Nigerian Immigration Service officials to fleece innocent citizens. It is believed leadership of the NIS and Ministry of Interior pay lip service to discipline and quality service. The more Nigerians complain of hardship they face in trying to renew or acquire the Nigeria’s passport booklets, the more leadership of the Ministry of Interior shops for justification. After the inauguration of Maitama Passport Express Centre at Abuja, Aregbesola had boasted passports would be available within 24 hours nationawide under the scheme, but today, the problem has remained the same and the Ministry officials have continued to curate ludicrous reasons to save face: if it is not an excuse about foreign exchange problem today, it is going to be about sudden breakdown of the National Identity Management Commissioner server tomorrow.

Another evidence of poor leadership of Aregbesola is how he looks away when officials under him discharge their duties indecorously. Earlier in the year, the media space trended with the news of one Babangida Tanko who allegedly defrauded a banker of N1.2 million in the name of helping his relatives get jobs in the NIS. Tanko, an assistant comptroller at the Nigerian Immigration Service, was also said to be an aide of the Minister of Interior. Even though the ministry vowed to investigate the allegation, nothing has been heard about it since then. Similar accounts, as above, abound and citizens continue to groan under the horrible condition public officials assigned to serve them subject them. How long would people tolerate the tragic incompetence of characters maintained with tax returns…?

At the height of Colonel Ahamdu Alli’s lacklustre performance and his insensitivity to plights of Nigerian students, an “Ali Must Go” movement was birthed in April 1978 to agitate for his removal as country’s education minister. This time around, it is Rauf Aregbesola who must give way for decent and capable administrator to man the Ministry of Interior. Aregbesola, no doubt, Must Go. It is time.