Military destroyed police for leaking 1966 coup - Belgore

Sulaimon Olanrewaju and Adewale Ajayi, Lagos - 19.03.2008

The military deliberately destroyed the Nigeria Police for leaking the 1966 coup to politicians.

Former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alfa Belgore, who said this in Lagos on Tuesday, lamented that even in the more than eight years of civilian rule, the police had not fared better because of poor funding.

Justice Belgore called for an independent body to take over the responsibility of appointing the Inspector General of Police instead of the unilateral decision of the president.

Belgore, who was the chairman at the first Kafaru Oluwole Tinubu Memorial Lecture with the theme “The Rule of Law and the Role of the Police in an Emerging Democracy,” at the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs (NIIA) in Lagos, said the military never forgave the police for telling the politicians about the impending coup d'etat, though the politicians never believed that the coup would take place.

According to him, there was a particular branch ‘E Branch,’ which had current information about activities in the society then and the branch was able to know that there would be a coup and informed the then civilian authorities.

“Immediately the military took over, they deliberately destroyed the police, scrapping the ‘E Branch’ and deliberately starving the police of the needed funding while at the same time, building up the military,” he said.

"The result of this is that while the military was getting bigger and stronger, the police was shrinking and getting weaker. With time, effective policing became impossible. That is why we are where we are now as a country.”

Emphasising the level of deprivation in the police, the retired Chief Justice said he had had to buy beret, shoes and other things for his orderly because the police authorities failed to provide them.

“The moment the police officer graduates from the Police College, he is on his own, nothing is done to train him or adequately equip him. How then is he expected to carry out effective policing?” he asked.

In a paper presented on his behalf at the occasion, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, said the poverty level in the country had turned it into one of the countries with the highest level of criminal activities in the world.