National Security, Religious Anarchism and the Politics of Amnesty in Nigeria

20 Pages·2015·0.3 MB·English

Covenant University Journal of Politics and International Affairs (CUJPIA) Vol. 1, No. 1 (Maiden Edition), June, 2013

Covenant University Journals
National Security, Religious Anarchism and the Politics of
Amnesty in Nigeria

Agaptus Nwozor, PhD
Landmark University Omu Aran
Kwara State, Nigeria.

Abstract: The Nigerian state is caught in the crossfire of national insecurity arising from the
insurgency of various rogue groups. The most prominent of these groups, and one whose
activities have had far-reaching destabilising effect on the polity, is the Boko Haram sect.
The Boko Haram sect, which uses the Taliban- and al-Qaeda-style terrorist tactics of suicide
bombing and targeted assassination, is responsible for between 3000 and 4000 deaths since
it declared war and engaged in armed insurgency in 2009. The sect has targeted and bombed
state institutions, the United Nations building as well as many Christian worship centres in
furtherance of its avowed objective of deploying terror to achieve the islamisation of the
Nigerian state. Relying on secondary sources of data, the paper interrogates the force theory
that underpins Nigeria’s security engineering and contends that the continued insecurity in
the polity is a demonstration of its ineffectiveness. The paper also contends that the
proposition by the Federal Government to grant amnesty to the Boko Haram sect is not as
simplistic as it appears as it transcends the narrow definitional criteria of bartering
forgiveness for peace. While the paper is critical of the proposed amnesty programme, it
advocates a holistic approach that incorporates other issues that are promotive of justice,
morality and ethicalness in the polity.

Introduction other cause of death in Nigeria,
The major challenge of Nigeria’s including epidemics (Bankong-Obi
national security is the containment 2012).
of diverse manifestations of violence
One of the shortcomings of Nigeria’s
spearheaded by various rogue
security management is its pro-realist
groups. The major group in
orientation that accords the
contemporary Nigeria that has
deployment of force preeminent
stretched the resources, expertise,
position. Thus, the strategy of choice
patience and even the competence of
among national security managers is
Nigeria’s security apparatuses to the
the use of force in various guises to
limit, both individually and
subdue those identified as
collectively, is the Boko Haram sect.
threatening national security. But the
The sheer number of deaths arising
government’s supposed superior
from bomb attacks orchestrated by
force has not rolled back the menace
the Boko Haram far outstrips any
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Covenant University Journal of Politics and International Affairs (CUJPIA) Vol. 1, No. 1 (Maiden Edition), June, 2013

of insecurity which creates the of amnesty. The present amnesty
impression that the government is being proposed by the Jonathan
not doing enough to secure the administration seems to be driven by
people. This mindset led Bankong- narrow political considerations.
Obi (2012) to attribute Nigeria’s Amnesty is not imposed by fiat but
intractable security challenges to emerges through negotiated
government’s apathy towards arrangement based on certain defined
exterminating the terror group and conditions. The government had
inefficiency on the part of the unequivocally set those conditions
security agencies. The Boko Haram earlier namely, that it would not
sect poses a security challenge that is negotiate with ghosts, due to the
alien to Nigeria’s regular security sect’s faceless leadership and
problems. While the use of force membership; and that the sect must
might have worked in the past, it has present its basis of grievances as a
proved inefficient in the case of platform for dialogue (BBC 2012;
Boko Haram. This is so for four Guardian 2013a).
major reasons: one, the Boko Haram
The paper acknowledges that
uses al-Qaeda-style terror strategies,
amnesty is a political tool designed
which combine suicide bombing,
to stop violence and restore peace
targeted assassination and guerrilla
but argues that it must be driven by
strategies to unleash violence on the
the tenets of justice. The paper
polity; two, the sect has diffuse
further contends that the
leadership system, making it
unilateralism of the proposed
impossible to initiate dialogue; three,
amnesty represents a policy
its ideology is anchored on
summersault which might deepen
irrationality driven by utopian
insecurity rather than resolve it. It
anarchism; and lastly, it has shifting
holds that the sustainability of any
membership that is patently faceless.
form of amnesty programme for the
The anarchist bent of the Boko
Boko Haram sect must factor in the
Haram worldview is validated by its
victims of their terrorist attacks.
bomb attacks on Christian worship

Contending Issues in Nigeria’s
centres as well Muslims considered
National Security Architecture
as not practising orthodox Islam
Internationally and domestically, the
(Onuoha 2012:2).
issue of national security is

The persistence of bomb attacks by
constantly on the front burner (Obi
the Boko Haram sect despite an all-
1997; Tyoden 2005). Irrespective of
out deployment of force by the state
the regime type that is in control of
and the clamour by Nigerians for the
governmental powers within states or
government to find a lasting solution
the configuration of powers in the
to the problem of insecurity appeared
global arena, the preoccupation with
to have swayed government towards
national security has not diminished
the adoption of non-military option
in importance since the emergence of
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state system. Within nation-states, intelligence gathering and secrecy,
whether it is military authoritarian and the protection of resources and
regimes or civil democratic rights considered critical to the
governments, considerations functioning of states (UNDP 1994;
surrounding national security sit at Encarta 2008; Nnoli 2006).
the apex of the hierarchy of states’
The core essence of this
national interest. At the core of these
conceptualisation is that national
considerations are the twin issues of
security is motorised by the
regime survival and the preservation
possession of the ensembles of
of the territorial integrity of the state
warfare as well as the existence of
system.
military formations to deploy them.
Overtime, especially in the cold war
The implication, therefore, is that
era, the preoccupation of states with
threats to national security are
national security defined within the
mainly external rather than internal.
parametric confines of regime and
Thus, the whole essence of the
state survival made its pursuit an end
apparatuses of force is to rebuff and
by itself rather than a means to an
defeat any form of threat to the state.
end. The effect was that states
As such, the achievement of national
became fixated with developing the
security falls under the exclusive
necessary capacity to ensure the
domain of the military and
survival of the government in power
paramilitary formations across the
as well as preserve the state system
state. The shortcoming associated
from collapse arising from both
with this conceptualisation is its
internal and external threats and
seeming restrictive boundaries and
sabotage.
analytical inadequacy (UNDP 1994;

This traditional realist mindset Onuoha 2008:101; Adelugba
underpinned the equation of national 2008:20; Nwolise 2008:348).
security with the absence of threats
The concept of national security has
to governmental authority or the
mutated from its static preoccupation
presence of domestic capacity to
characterised by narrow, restrictive,
contain centrifugal forces within the
militaristic and strategic perspective
polity (Omeje 2006). Thus, under
to dynamic, broad-based
this paradigm, national security was
incorporation of ensembles of
conceptualised within the parametric
various factors. The shift and
context of innate and acquired
expansion in the paradigmatic
capacity of governments to ensure
preoccupation of national security
the protection of their countries from
from traditional realist orientation to
external attacks or internal
multilayered and broad perspective
subversion, as well as the
draws from deeper insights generated
preparedness of the military to
from other schools of thoughts. The
protect state territories. It also was
various inputs from diverse
interpreted as diligence in matters of
intellectual traditions in the attempt
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to elucidate and expand the opportunity to non-human lives to
traditional frontiers of national thrive; and Marxist political
security have imbued the concept economy focuses on the
with certain mystique (Nnoli 2006:1; reconciliation of the competing
Adelugba 2008). But attempts by interests of the various classes in the
various scholars to add quality and state. To them, therefore, the national
dynamism to the concept of national security cannot be understood apart
security are principally concerned from the interests of the social forces
with the issues of whose security is as they struggle with one another
paramount and how to provide it (Obi 1997; Omeje 2006; Nnoli
(Omeje 2006:14; Onuoha 2008:102). 2006).
The intellectual and ideological
The expansion in the constituent
ferment in the expansion of the
elements that shape national security
domain of national security is
has produced a paradigmatic shift in
exemplified by their emphases on a
contemporary definitional criteria of
bouquet of factors as its constitutive
the concept. National security, thus,
parameters. Thus, the traditional
transcends the traditional frontiers of
realist approach and its
state to incorporate man and his
contemporary variations situate the
environment within the milieu of
core concerns of national security
sustainability. Sustainability in
within the framework of the state and
national security means that actions
its national interest anchored on its
taken by states in furtherance of the
military capability to protect both;
security concerns of the present
the idealist school focuses attention
generation must be such that cater
on the emancipation of the individual
for present needs of humans and
rather than the state; the
non-humans alike while making
neoclassical/liberal economistic
allowances for the unconditional
theorists see national security from
meeting of the security needs by
the context of economic security or
future generations (UNDP 1994;
security of the economy, which is
Dobson 2000).
achieved through the free interplay

National security in Nigeria is still
of market forces in the resource
conceived from the prism of the
allocation processes within and
realist paradigm. Thus, the strategy
between societies; the structural
often adopted by the Nigerian state
ecologists focus on the linkages and
to tackle insecurity consists of, and is
interactions of ecology and politics
anchored on, the deployment of
especially in terms of the
superior fire power to contain what
sustainability of the planetary
the state has identified as threats to
ecosystem and the balancing of the
it, which often coincide with the
negative impacts of economic
interest of the ruling elite. As a result
activities on natural resource
of the realist orientation and mindset
exploitation and the unhindered
of Nigerian security thinking, the
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Nigerian government perennially query. The unaccountable nature of
earmarks larger and larger portions security vote led El Rufai (2012) to
of state funds for security. In the call it “slush fund”. The Human
2012 federal budget, the Nigerian Rights watch (2007:39) captures it
government allotted 19.4 percent of more succinctly thus:
the total budget to the security
The security vote is a budget
sector. Thus, in concrete terms, the line that is meant to act as a
security sector gulped N921.91 source of discretionary
billion of the N4.75 trillion budgeted spending that the executive
for the year (Leadership 2012). The arms of government can use
logic behind the huge budgetary to respond quickly and
effectively to threats to
allocation to the security sector was
peace and security in their
to tackle the “the threat of Boko
jurisdictions. However the
Haram, Niger Delta militants and
use of those funds is
increasing spate of insecurity and
notoriously opaque; there is
wanton destruction of lives and
generally no requirement
property by criminals which are on
that governors or local
the rise"(President Jonathan cited in government chairpersons
Leadership 2011). account for their use of those
funds. In many cases
Horsfall (2013:71) observes that the security vote money has
security budget for 2012 was not been used by state and local
governments to foment
only phenomenal but was the largest
violence and co-opt political
allocation any government had
opponents or has been lost to
budgeted in the history of Nigeria for
graft and patronage.
the security sector. The phenomenal

The militarisation of national
increment in the security vote not
security underpinned the setting up
only enlarged the resources available
of coalition forces or joint task forces
to national security managers but
(JTF) to address sundry security
also expanded the frontiers of the
threats. The Nigerian security
militarisation of the polity. It equally
architecture has, as its building
acted as a necessary fodder to the
blocks, such organisations as the
blossoming of corruption (Elombah
police, the armed forces, and the
2010). In Nigeria’s government
various state security apparatuses,
circles, the security vote is not
which are concerned with
subject to audit verification. Once
intelligence gathering. A consistent
the security vote is captured in the
trait across the various security
budget, its spending is within the
formations is the conscious efforts to
competence of the government
militarise them. The Nigeria Police,
officials authorised to spend it and
whose primary responsibility is to
the manner in which they deem its
maintain law and order, breaks them
spending necessary is beyond audit
by converting their position into
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veritable instrument of oppression British colonialists but consolidated
and extortion (Carter and Marenin on them. Thus, it was merely, a
1979; Walker 1999:56; Hills handover from one oppressor to
2007:408; Alemika 2010). another. As Onyeozili 2005: )
observes, “the nationalists against
Another aspect of the militarisation
who (sic) police terror and violence
of the police is the creation of the
were used by the colonialists, and to
pseudo-military formation known as
whom power was subsequently
the Mobile Police (Mopol) with
transferred at independence,
access to helicopter gunships and
cushioned themselves into
armoured personnel carriers (APCs)
employing police brutality and terror
as well as other ad hoc units that
against their opponents in post-
regularly compete amongst
independence political power
themselves for unleashing violence
struggles”.
on the people. The JTFs are

conferred with wide-ranging Another cause is the tendency of the
repressive powers. As oppression Nigerian security apparatuses to reify
begets resistance, the deployment of force as the whole essence of
force by the JTFs has neither security. For instance, the Boko
diminished nor eliminated the Haram was in existence before it
incidence of insecurity in Nigeria. It embraced violence as its primary
has fostered the spirit of daring the tool of operation. Its origin is traced
state apparatuses of force, especially to 2002 , with some scholars dating it
the JTFs. The creation of an as far back as 1995, which suggests
alternative model of security that prior to 2009, it operated as a
framework to maintain internal non-violent organisation (Connell
security by the Nigerian government 2012:88; The Nation 2012; BBC
is a tacit acknowledgement of the 2012a; Onuoha 2012:2). It was when
incapacity of the police and other the Nigeria Police applied extreme
traditional institutions law force which led to the death of its
enforcement to tackle crime. leader, Mohammed Yusuf and over
1,000 members of the sect that
Part of the underlying causes of violence became its weapon of
insecurity in Nigeria is the martyrdom (Onuoha 2012:3).
appropriation, personalisation and
The de-federalisation of security
privatisation of state power by the
through the takeover of every aspect
elite and the exclusion of the masses
of security by the federal
from access to secure material base
government created certain rigidity
(Ake 1981:125-8; Nnoli 2006:70).
in the security system. The erosion
The emergent ruling elite at the
of the federalist principles that ought
period of independence did not
to undergird the Nigerian state and
dismantle the apparatuses of
all the apparatuses of governance,
oppression used by the retreating
including its national security system
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originated from two interrelated of linkages between national security
factors, namely, military adventure and provision of conditions for the
into the political arena and the material wellbeing of a significant
unfortunate Nigerian civil war and percentage of the population. But the
its after-effects (Babawale 2007: 65). pursuit of security ought to start and
Although the earliest effort to end with the elimination of the
centralise the police system was in factors that create, intensify and
1958 through the Police Act, sustain human misery in the polity.
Cap.154, Laws of the Federation As UNDP (1994:22) observes,
(Onyeozili 2005:40), its “human security is not a concern
consolidation was during the with weapons-it is a concern with
successive military regimes. One of human life and dignity”. The dignity
the fallouts of Nigeria’s skewed is conferred on the people by the
federal structure is the removal of responsiveness of the government to
real constitutional responsibility their social, economic, political and
from the state governors and local ethical needs.

government chairmen and the
The Terrain of Amnesty in Nigeria
transference of same to the federal
Amnesty is a concept whose
government. Contradictorily, the
relevance is brought to the fore in
governors and local government
conflict situations. It is associated
chairmen allocate and appropriate
with the preparedness of the state to
enormous resources as security vote
suspend its powers to prosecute and
under the guise of being the chief
punish individuals and groups who
security officers of their respective
have contravened fundamental
domains, a situation that has the
provisions of the laws. It involves
trappings of sleaze around it (Human
the invocation of the powers of the
Rights Watch 2007b).
state to cleanse from the official

The security theorisation and records of those under the purview of
preoccupation of the Nigerian state the amnesty arrangement, their
does not factor the human misery as culpability against it. Thus, amnesty
a major constituent of the centrifugal does not operate in a vacuum but
pressures on national security. within the context of certain
Human misery is seen as a conditions. These conditions include:
manifestation of the consequential - It applies to rebellious acts
effects rather than a driving force of against the state;
insecurity. This mindset could be - It is offered to a group or a
responsible for the reactive rather class of criminals who may
than proactive orientation of the have committed a crime
security strategies of the Nigerian against the state;
state (Obi 1997). What this implies is - They need not be convicted
that not only is there an absence of by a court of law. It is enough
strategic security plan but also a lack that there is a constitutional
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basis upon which they can be free or subject to lawful conditions”.
ordinarily prosecuted; An analysis of the provision brings
- It is extended by the state in to the fore its contemplation of the
order to restore tranquillity two concepts in one fell swoop.
within its territory; While the first part of that provision,
- The felonies are expunged that is, “any person concerned with”
from the records of those contemplates amnesty; the second
concerned; part which refers to any person
- It is anchored on the “convicted of any offence” falls
fulfilment of certain under the purview of the concept of
conditions by the intended pardon. Thus, the distinction
beneficiaries of the amnesty between the two concepts is that
programme. It could be in while pardon is given after a
form of signing pledges of conviction and exempts the criminal
good behaviour, community from further punishment, amnesty is
service and surrendering of usually granted to persons who may
firearms (Encarta 2008; have committed a crime but not
Akinwale 2010:204; Olatoke convicted.
& Olokooba 2012:27).
Amnesty as a state strategy is

There is fundamental misconception deployed to contain centrifugal
among scholars and analysts about forces and maintain the corporate
the meaning and purpose of amnesty. unity of the state in the face of
This misconception is a product of seemingly intractable threats. The
conceptual confusion arising from effectiveness of amnesty as a state
the extrapolation of the meaning of strategy lies is given impetus by two
amnesty from pardon (Ukaogo 2010; factors: one, an unimpeachable
Akinwale 2010:202; Olatoke & demonstration of the superiority of
Olokooba 2012:27). Sections 175 the fire power of the state; and two,
and 212 of the Nigerian Constitution, the willingness of the intended
1999, confer on the president and the beneficiaries to discontinue the
governor of a state the power to criminal activities for which amnesty
exercise the prerogative of mercy is contemplated. The objective of
after consultation with the Council of amnesty is not to punish but to
State or relevant advisory council choose a path that will yield the best
respectively. possible scenario for the triumph of
peace. Thus, amnesty emphasizes the
Embedded in Section 175(1a) are the
supremacy and expediency of a
concepts of amnesty and pardon. The
conducive atmosphere promotive of
subsection provides that the
public welfare than prosecution
president may “grant any person
(Olatoke & Olokooba 2012:26).
concerned with or convicted of any

offence created by an Act of the In the course of Nigeria’s post-
National Assembly a pardon, either colonial experience, it has deployed
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the tool of amnesty on two Yar’Adua granted amnesty to the
occasions. The first was in Niger Delta militants. For years, the
connection with the Nigerian civil Niger Delta was transformed into a
war. At the end of the war in 1970, cauldron of anti-state activities,
the federal government declared the which not only embarrassed the
outcome of the war as “no victor, no Nigerian state and undermined its
vanquished”. This was a general economy but also spawned ripple
amnesty that served the purpose of effects in the international oil
closing the unfortunate chapter market. As the CBN (2009:130)
which the war opened (Ukaogo corroborates, “declining production
2010). The introduction of what had characterized oil output over the
came to be known as 3Rs previous five years due largely to
(reconciliation, reconstruction and militant activities and the attendant
rehabilitation) was a state policy destruction of oil-production
designed to open a new chapter of facilities”. The amnesty was the third
reintegration of the secessionist in the line of strategies evolved by
Biafra into Nigeria. the Nigerian state to contain the
destructive consequences of armed
Although, the amnesty policy of 3Rs
onslaught of the Niger Delta
has been criticised as an empty
militants on the state. The two
rhetoric peddled to contain the
previous strategies were the
security threat that open
bureaucratisation of the Niger Delta
marginalisation of the Igbos would
region through the creation of the
have spawned (Ukaogo 2010), it
Ministry of Niger Delta and the
achieved the purpose of procuring a
Niger Delta Development
peaceful polity. The amnesty of the
Commission (NDDC), under whose
Nigeria-Biafra civil war appeared to
auspices the Niger Delta Master plan
be one-sided: rather than facilitate
to anchor the sustained development
the integration of the Igbos, it
of the region was evolved (Egwemi
fostered their alienation and
2010:136).
relegation from the mainstream of

Nigerian governance and economic The Niger Delta amnesty programme
structures (Ojukwu 2002; Ukaogo represented a milestone in several
2010). What the Nigerian state respects. Firstly, it showed that a
granted Chief Chukwuemeka government was listening and
Odumegwu-Ojukwu under the willing to engage in peaceful
presidency of Shehu Shagari was resolution of the people’s grievances.
state pardon, an action that actually Secondly, it marked a shift in the
closed the chapter of the process that security and strategic orientation of
started in 1970. the government: the government
stood down its reliance on its
The next instance of amnesty was on
seeming superior fire power to cow
25 June 2009 when Nigeria’s former
the people and embraced dialogue
President, the late Umaru Musa
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anchored on voluntary renunciation [2009] and closed at the end of the
of violence by the militants. And year at 2.02mbd.”
lastly, the government was willing to
Boko Haram and the Spectre of
make investments outside its
Religious Anarchism
traditional security window as it
The Boko Haram insurgency has
conceptualised the amnesty
been at the epicentre of Nigeria’s
programme to have rehabilitation
security crisis since it upped its
and reintegration components.
terrorist activities in 2009. While
Indeed, the Nigerian government
both the origin and leadership
projected then that the amnesty
composition of the Boko Haram sect
programme would cost the state
are subject of speculation, their
some N10.14 billion (Nwozor
ideology and terrorist activities are
2010:29).
not. Bagaji et al (2012:33) find

Undoubtedly, the Niger Delta semblance between Boko Haram and
amnesty programme was a policy Maitatsine sects in terms of shared
attempt to seek an alternative route anarchic philosophy and objectives.
to peace within the triad framework The Boko Haram sect is professedly
of anti-violence, pro-dialogue and anti-west and considers terrorist
welfarism (Nwozor 2010:33). But strategy as a veritable jihadist tool to
the pursuit of this peace was not conquer the “infidels” (Onuoha
without conditions. As Nwozor 2012:2). Here, infidels are defined as
(2010:33-34) avers, “the president those who are outside the template of
hinged the amnesty on several orthodox Islam or those who
conditions: the willingness of the condone or are sympathetic to
militants to give up all illegal arms in western education and civilisation
their possession, a complete (Connell 2012:90). Thus, the literal
renunciation of militancy in all its meaning of Boko Haram is “western
ramifications, and deposition to an education is sin”.
undertaking to this effect”. The
The arbitrary targets of Boko
embracement of the programme by
Haram’s sustained terrorist attacks
the militants enthroned peace in the
appear to create analytical problems
region, which had multiplier effect
with regard to who it categorises as
on the Nigerian economy. As CBN
an infidel. There has not been any
(2009:130) acknowledges, “the
boundary in the targets of its attacks:
federal Government’s amnesty
it appears to attack everybody but
programme brought relative peace to
with preponderance on Christian
the Niger-Delta area in the second
institutions. Essentially, the targets
half of 2009. Consequently,
of the attacks masterminded by the
production level rose from 1.75mbd
Boko Haram have not followed any
[million barrels per day] in January
particular pattern to lead to a
[2009] to 1.94mbd in September
plausible conclusion about their
driving motives and ultimate goals.
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