OUTLAWS OF THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY,ABUJA!
Prof Nnamdi Obiaraeri
An outlaw is a lawless person or a habitual criminal. An outlaw is not restrained or controlled by law. An outlaw is unruly, disorderly, disobedient, wild, and obstreperous. An outlaw is never demure, orderly and well-behaved. This piece is about the outlaws of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. It is a warning signal that “fish always stinks from the head downwards”.
By constitutional prescription, law and bureaucratic practices and or realities, Abuja is the Federal Capital Territory (popularly abbreviated and called “FCT”) of Nigeria. It is an understatement to say that the FCT Abuja is a carefully planned national Capital. It is a signature model capital city housing the headquarters of the three arms of the federal government- legislature, executive and judiciary. The National Assembly Complex (symbolising the federal legislature), the Presidential Villa or Aso Rock Villa (symbolising the executive and seat of power) and the Supreme Court Complex (symbolising the apex Court and head of the judiciary) are all located in the Three Arms Zone of the FCT. Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, the Police, Military/Armed Forces and paramilitary or other top security organisations or Agencies including the State Security Service, National Intelligence Agency, anti-graft agencies like Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission all have their headquarters in the FCT, Abuja. The FCT plays host to embassies, diplomatic community and high profile national and international summits, events, meetings, seminars and workshops. Ideally, the FCT is supposed to be a tourist attraction and a national pride where law and order reigns supreme but that is not the epicenter or major thrust of this write-up.
Contrariwise, this intervention is about how crass indiscipline and mindless lawlessness of some state and non-state actors have despoiled the scenic beauty of the FCT Abuja and reduced it to an urban jungle. When a fish rots, the head stinks first is a popular Ghanaian proverb. Alas, fish that is rotten at the head has no redeeming quality. If the FCT can be a ghetto, A few random examples from formal and informal sectors will suffice to alert that the lawlessness in the FCT is symptomatic of a decaying Nigerian polity that must be urgently addressed.
In the FCT Abuja, there is no reliable mass transport system (buses/taxis/railways) – no designated bus stops/terminals and bus shelters. The only available and “must patronise” means of mass transportation is through ride-hailing of private owned taxis, buses and Keke NAPEP. These classes of service providers are truly the “real owners” of the FCT with their “above the law” mentality and behaviour. Many of the Keke NAPEP drivers or operators are visibly underage persons who know next to nothing about traffic rules and regulations. It is highly doubtful if majority of these Keke operators have drivers’ licences even as it is an embarrassing common feature that most of these three-wheeled rickshaws have no or incomplete vehicle plate numbers with attendant security implications. FCT Abuja commercial drivers do not obey traffic lights controlling traffic at road junctions, pedestrian crossings, and roundabouts. Inside the city and around the Central Business District, taxi drivers impudently commandeer portions of major roads, highways and bridges and use them as loading bays. The Police who harass private car owners do not stop or search commercial taxi drivers or Keke NAPEP drivers in the FCT. The white and black wearing Vehicle Inspection Officers (abbreviated as “VIOs”) that litter all the streets of the FCT either do not have the commission or lack the courage to check the vehicle papers or driver’s licence or excesses of these commercial vehicle and Keke NAPEP drivers. How the commercial taxi drivers and Keke NAPEP operators gained absolute immunity from laws, rules and regulations is supposed to be a study in social experiment.
Residents and visitors to the FCT are alarmed that petrol is openly hawked in cans and sold at cut-throat prices around the three arms zone and twenty four hours of the seven days in a week particularly in front and within the precincts of the Police Headquarters, Abuja. What other evidence of failure of enforcement of law and order does anyone require if these illicit hawkers of petrol in cans do so openly without consequences? The petrol dealers arbitrarily fix prices while most NNPC outlets are closed or remain museums. The few ones that are open only sell from one or two dispensing pumps apparently deriving joy in punishing customers. If in the FCT, petrol station owners including the ones in the city centre are lords unto themselves, how will anyone successfully regulate the activities of petroleum marketers in the remote states and hinterlands? The fish rots from the head down!
The Federal Road Safety Corps officers represent the worst outlaws in the FCT, Abuja by reason of the lawless and reckless manner they take on their responsibilities. It is public knowledge that they make the road unsafe by unlawfully blocking half of the road with their pickup vans at dangerous turns and bends. They also mount check points at bumpy and impassable spots thereby endangering their lives and those of road users. Something must be wrong somewhere if a road safety organisation makes the road unsafe for road users. Meanwhile, these overzealous FRSC Officials that harass responsible private car owners do “eyes right” when they sight commercial taxis, buses and Keke NAPEP.
In the FCT markets (Wuse, Garki old and modern, Kado, Deidei to mention a few), they collect gate fees or entry tolls from vehicle owners coming into the markets without providing parking spaces. This congests the markets unduly, compromises traffic flow and presents serious issues for safety in the event of public emergency. Collecting revenue should come with responsibility to provide durable social services.
When there is no law and order, there is chaos, confusion or bedlam. The first duty of government is to maintain law and order in order to protect the lives and property of its citizens. Lack of consequence for misconduct or lawlessness is the bane of any society. If laws, rules and regulations are either not obeyed or selectively enforced in the nation’s capital housing all the “timbers and calibers” or “high and mighty” of government, there is obvious cause for alarm. Selective justice is and remains injustice. Abuja is the nation’s capital and should remain a model or paragon of law and order. According to Ambedkar, law and order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered.
A new normal is possible!