CP Abayomi Akeremale( Rtd) salutes Buhari’s recognition of June 12.
– Steve Ovirih
Chief Otaibayomi Olorunoje Akeremale, the former Commissioner of Police Nassarawa state has described the step taken by President Muhammadu Buhari to canonize June 12 as a commendable gesture by a pan Nigerian leader. Chief Akeremale made this known to the crew of thepolity.com.ng in the course of an elaborate personality interview on him at his country home, Okitipupa, Ondo southern senatorial district of Ondo state.
The top cop said June 12 bears a more significant relevance to the struggle for the entrenching of Democracy in Nigeria than the May 29th date , which was a mere military connivance.
While addressing the failure of the Babangida regime to make a hero of himself and his administration courtesy of the golden opportunity June 12, 1993 presented, Chief Akeremale said the decision of Gen Ibrahim Babangida to annul the June 12, 1993 election was the greatest undoing of the junta, stressing that the annulment narrative brought this country to her knees and made us a laughing stock in the eyes of the world. He noted that Late M K O Abiola’s kins man, Chief Earnest Shonekan who agreed to head the Interim National Government did not think it through before accepting such Greek gift from the military government because had he thought it through, he would have realised that the military junta was simply bidding him to step forward and betray his own brethren.
The retired police boss regretted the fact that June 12 which was supposed to be a sweet smelling narrative eventually became a grim tale of treachery , sorrow, dehumanization and denials which led to the death of so many compatriots. Hence his admiration for the Buhari administration which has deemed it fit to clear the augean stable by drawing a good closure on the sour story of June 12 by recognising it as a national holiday in Nigeria. He noted that it is an act of God that while the military trampled on June 12, it took President Muhammadu Buhari of a military background to correct this anomaly, noting that Buhari has reserved for himself a special place in our history book .
It will be recalled that the Federal Government has renamed the Abuja stadium after Chief MKO Abiola, Akeremale stated.
On the issue of people’s expectations from PMB as his second term begins , Chief Akeremale said Buhari had the overwhelming majority votes of Nigerians, so much more will be expected of his administration in the second term. He charged the new government to be more proactive in the area of curbing the insecurity challenges the country is facing, noting that the insurgents, the bandits , the militants and the kidnappers are threatening the internal security of the nation and this calls for a prompt solution before things get out of hand. He maintained that the Federal military structure of this country given all the necessary logistics should be able to wipe out all these threats , calling on government not to allow insecurity blot the hedge of the other achievement it will record in this second term.
On the vexed issue of state police, Chief Akeremale spoke with the air of an insider in the policing of the country, noting that the Constitution of the country empowers the state Governors to ensure the total security of their state as there is a section of the Constitution which states that the Governor shall give a lawful order to the state commissioner of Police as regards ensuring the security of the state, which the CP will lawfully execute. Akeremale opined that there is no need for a state police if only the state governments are willing to obey the Constitution. He said if we eventually
have state police, how will states that are owing workers backlog of salary be able to settle the state police wage bill? Jokingly, the retired police boss said he joined the police force in the early 80s because it was the Nigeria Police, stressing that if it wasn’t national in Outlook he wouldn’t have brooked joining the police. He stressed that attempt had been made in the time past to balkanise the Police structure in Nigeria . ” There was a time in this country that there was a gang up to remove the word force from Nigeria Police and it took the intervention of Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) who made it clear that as simple as clipping “force” from Nigeria Police was, it required wholistic constitutional amendment and that was how that ploy died a natural death. The clamour for state police is simply another attempt at balkanising the unified police structure,” Akeremale stressed.
The Ikale high chief and senior citizen however called for the support of Nigerians for the Buhari administration.
