The governorship elections in Rivers State is surely now won and lost, but the controversies stirred will certainly linger for a while. One of such is the reported brazen partisanship of soldiers during the exercise, setting a dangerous precedent.
It is commendable that the Army high command has instituted an inquiry to establish the truth. It is the least the Chief of Army Staff owes the public with a view to redeeming the name of that critical institution of state. Soldiers owe loyalty to country, not parties.
Without prejudice to the panel’s investigations, let it however be stated right away that it is also quite possible that those caught in several viral videos in the social media could be impostors in fake Army uniform, just to intimidate political opponents.
While expressing grave concern over alleged misconduct of a branch of the security establishment, it is only fair that those that discharged their duties creditably be commended. The one that readily comes to mind is the DSS.
Given its “notoriety” in recent past as the “multi-purpose enforcer” of sometimes dirty political jobs, it is quite significant that the service was not implicated in the bloodshed that characterized the Rivers polls.
The international tradition is that the secret service plays the Big Brother on the nation, adept at anticipating threat and cutting down evil in its track. It is anonymous in identity and unobtrusive in operation. Stealth is its philosophy.
But the DSS we saw until recently was one that seemed quite excitable and did not seem to care about that long-cherished optics. This was very much in evidence in its midnight invasion of homes of top members of the judiciary and made quite a big drama of huge cash (including hard currencies) hurl from operations many thought should have been left to the regular police.
Nor was the spy service spared of spotlights when the “testimonial” it prepared became the chief plank on which the Senate stood to deny Ibrahim Magu of confirmation as substantive chairman of EFCC consistently in the last three years against the repeated recommendation of President Muhammadu Buhari, thus deepening national curiosity.
The height was last year when the service again showed a partisan hand at the National Assembly. In what was considered a brazen assault on a critical institution of democracy, hooded operatives barricaded the gate in a complicated power-play, acting like the proverbial Praetorial Guard that became master over the sovereign to whom it was supposed to be subordinated. That murky outing led to the suspension of then supremo of the service.
By resisting the temptation to be drawn into the Rivers conundrum, it does seem DSS has learnt from the past. Kudos to the new leadership. We hope this new-found professionalism is sustained.
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