Insecurity: The case for state police, by Mongunu

Rep. Mohammed Tahir Mongunu, is the Chief Whip of the House of Representatives. In 2015, he aspired to be the Speaker of the House alongside Femi Gbajabiamila and Yakubu Dogara. He was later prevailed upon to drop the ambition and go for the position of Deputy Speaker to Gbajabiamila by the party. But that did not happen as Yakubu Dogara emerged as the Speaker of the 8th House of Representatives, with Sulaiman Lasun as Deputy. In this interview culled from the Green Sentinel, a publication of the House of Representatives Press Corps, Monguno speaks on his first experience in the House, the security challenges in the country and many more.

His first journey to the Legislative arm of government was in 1992 when he was elected into the House of Representatives in the abortive third republic to represent Marte/Monguno/Nganzai Federal Constituency of Borno state. But that experience was not a palatable one as the lawmakers were, according to him unable to do their job due to restrictions imposed by the military. Looking back to the third republic when he first came into the legislature, Mohammed Tahir Monguno said “In 1992, the Legislative arm of government was more like a toothless bulldog that can bark, but cannot bite. We were more like lame ducks. There were clear provisions contained in a decree enacted by the military that prohibited us from legislating on certain areas. We could only legislate on matters that were on the residual legislative list. By virtue of the decree, we were not allowed to legislate on matters contained in the exclusive legislative list. It was not a pleasant experience because we were mere lame ducks that could not discharge the functions of legislation. We were here for about one year practically doing nothing until the military came and we were dissolved. So, it was not a pleasant experience”

After serving in the Executive arm of government as a Commissioner for Justice in Borno state, he returned to parliament in 2007. He sought to become the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House, failing to make it even though his party, the APC was more disposed to him becoming the Deputy Speaker to the current Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila in 2015. A coup that brought in Yakubu Dogara from the same North East with him as Speaker saw that aspration dashed. but inspite of that, MT Monguno is fulfilled as a member of the green chamber and is opting to move over to the red chamber (the Senate) in 2023. He said “I have a very deep sense of fulfillment and contentment because my people have continued to repose their confidence in me. By the grace of God, I have also continued to impact their lives positively in my own little way. There is nothing that gives me fulfillment than serving the people, especially the under privileged. By putting smiles on their faces, I feel a deep sense of satisfaction. I have been here on their mandate for four terms now. So I feel highly fulfilled that I have done my beat to uplift the standard of living of my people despite the security challenges in my constituency and the state as a whole. So, the opportunity to serve, bring the dividends of democracy to them, put smiles on their faces, represent them and be their mouth piece is a rear privilege and it brings a sense of joy and satisfaction to me”. 

Monguno has not kept silent about the level of insecurity in the country especially his native state of Borno, moving many motions that appeared not to have been effective. But he takes solence in the fact that peace is gradually retuning to the state. He said “If you are looking at insecurity within the context of the north east, there has been tremendous improvement. Unfortunately, when the situation in the north east improved, the situation in other parts of the country degenerated. From the fillers we get from the security agencies, when the heat became too much in the north east, the insurgents decided to relocate to the north central and the North West. That is what brought about worsen security situation in Abuja and environs, as well as the north central and parts of the North West. Generally, there is significant improvement in the north east. Before the advent of this administration, I could not dream of going to my home town of Mongunu even in my wildest imagination. As I speak with you, I just came back from Maiduguri and my hometown. We have not overcome insecurity completely because there are still challenges. One or two local governments in my state are still being occupied by Boko Haram, but there is substantial improvement. Concerning the two local governments I said are still occupied by Boko Haram, I know they are there partially because my governor is determined to return the people to their ancestral lands and he is making great effort in that regards. One of the components of insecurity occurs when there is a vacuum which gives them the chance to operate. Majority of the people have returned home. The situation has improved, but that is not the same thing in other parts of the country because the situation is degenerating and that gives course for concern because the primary purpose of government is security of lives and property. That is the social contract between the government and the people to guarantee their safety. Once government fails to perform that function, then there is a problem. Though the situation has improved in my constituency and my state, I will not tell you that I am happy because the situation has degenerated in other parts of the country. So, there is the need for both the Executive and the Legislature to sit down and put on our thinking caps to find a way to address the situation”.

In view of the recommendations of the House after their security summit that government should engage machineries to assist in tackling the security challenges in the country, he said “that is why I am one of the champions of the establishment of state police because that is one of the panacea to addressing the problem of insecurity in the country. You cannot take somebody from Delta state and deploy him to Mongunu. He does not understand the language, he does not know the culture, he does not know the nooks and crannies of that community and so, he cannot serve there successfully. But if it is state police that are deployed to serve, they know the language, they know the nooks and crannies and the culture of the people and so, will be able to effectively police the community. That is why I am advocating for state police to tackle the security challenges rather than resorting to self help which is an invitation to anarchy. I think we should have a second look at the issue of state police. You can see the wonderful performance of the native police. Just like the state police, the native police know the nooks and crannies of the community and can effectively police the community. I don’t buy the idea of self help or of people arming themselves because once you allow that to happen, there will be chaos. In my state, we have the Civilian JTF who were brought into existence through an instrument of the state House of Assembly and were effectively deployed.

They are one of the instruments used to chase Boko Haram out of the cities and into places like the Sambissa Forest. These are young men and cannot cohabit with the terrorist in the communities because they know them very well. They know the community. They know their parents and every other thing about them. Once they perceive someone has sympathy for Boko Haram, even if not active, they will go after him. That was why Boko Haram left Maiduguri and relocated to Sambissa while those in the northern part of the state relocated to the shores of the Lake Chad. That is why I cannot go to my community and sleep with my two eyes closed. I am just telling you how state police can be used effectively if given the needed support through an instrument of the law”.He is concerned about the seeming decent to religious politics in the country rather than emphasis on competence and capacity to lead the nation. Speaking on the controversy that greeted the nomination of former Borno state governor, Kashim Shettima as the Vice Presidential candidate of the APC, he said “I think there is the need for us as a nation to de-emphasis religion because Nigeria is a circular state, our constitution is circular and we should not elevate religion to a matter of state religion. It should be something that is personal to everybody. We should rather emphasis integrity and ability to deliver on the mandate given to him. Whether the person can deliver the dividends of democracy should be our primary goal and not whether he is a Muslim or Christian or whether he is from the north, south, east or west. That should not be our priority. We should start thinking about competence, the ability to deliver, integrity and track record. Senator Kashim Shettima has a track record of performance in Borno state. Despite the daunting security challenges that he faced as a governor in his eight year tenure, he was able to navigate the security challenges and delivered quality projects. He deepened democracy and delivered projects to the people. The facts are there for you to see. We should always de-emphasis primordial sentiments such as religion, ethnicity and tribal sentiments. Although we are heterogeneous, we should emphasis competence because even our constitution is secular”.

The passage into law of the Petroleum Industry Act has widely been acclaimed as one of the major achievement of the current National Assembly considering how long the piece of legislation stayed in the parliament. Monguno who headed the House Committee that worked on the bill said the main thrust of the Petroleum Industry Act is to bring the oil and gas industry in line with international best practices and make it globally competitive because oil is now found in several places. He said “If you are not competitive, people will go elsewhere where they will get good bargain for their money. It is expected to make the operation of the industry transparent and competitive to attract the much needed investors. It will also bring out the gas that was hitherto untapped and the needed money that will be deployed to infrastructural development. In the next 30 to 50 years, oil will be a thing of the past because the world is now moving to renewable. So, it is better that we fully harness the potentials that we have in the oil and gas industry for the much needed development and save for the raining days. These are some of the benefits that will accrue to the country as a result of the Petroleum Industry Act. But its implementation has been stopped by the Executive because of political consideration, particularly the issue of subsidy. Once the implementation comes into force, subsidy regime will stop. Also because we are approaching election and the opposition by Labour, the implementation was suspended by one year. It has very beautiful provisions that will turn around not only the oil and gas industry, but also the Nigerian economy. Part of the implementation is the change in the nomenclature of the NNPC which has transformed from a public corporation to a limited liability company”.

More often than not, the chamber becomes so noisy that members can hardly hear themselves. As Chief Whip of the House, he has the responsibility of ensuring that there is calm and that legislative business is done in a quiet environment. Monguno is often heard shouting “order, order, Honourable members, let us listen in silence”. Sometimes, the presiding officer would have to interrupt the plenary to ensure that order is restored. How difficult has this task been for him? He said “It is a very difficult job because if care is not taken, you are going to ruffle a lot of feathers and step on many toes. It is your job and you have to do it. As you must have observed during plenary, a lot of members go to see the presiding officer, thereby causing distraction. Most members don’t take it kindly especially when you call their name to either keep quit or take their seats or when they are improperly dressed and you ask them to go and dress well and return, they complain. But we have to enforce our rules because this is an institution that has come to stay. It is only be enforcing the rules that we show good examples to the younger generation. If we allow things to go the way we like, it will not be in the best interest of the institution. So, we have to guide and protect the interest of the institution as well as the rules of the institution which we willingly gave to ourselves. That is why we make sure that the rules are obeyed despite the fact that I ruffle a lot of feathers in the process”.

While some members of the House have failed to comply with the provisions of the constitution on the minimum number of sittings they most attend, the leadership of the House has failed to invoke the provisions of the law on such members. But Monguno believe that the provision in the constitution is left for the constituents to act on. He said “that is why there is a register that is opened for members to sign every day. So, if you think that your member has not met the required number of seating, you can challenge it by going to court to seek an order of mandamus to remove that member”.