Perspective on 'My Oga at the top!'

Having now watched the interview with the Lagos State Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), Obafaiye Shem, I sympathise with the fellow. By my assessment, the man we have now chosen to denigrate as "My Oga at the top!" acquitted himself before the panel of three probing interviewers who hardly gave him a breathing space. You may check: http://www.channelstv.com/home/2013/03/06/employment-scam-cant-happen-in-civil-defence-lagos-commandant/ The thrust of the Channels TV’s Sunrise interview was on "Job Racketeering in MDAs" with NSCDC as focus. Shem spoke about the several arrests made across the country and did say he was posted from Katsina State to Lagos State three months ago, yet the interviewers wanted him to answer questions on arrest of scammers in Abuja! On that, he said of NSCDC: “We have possibly the fattest (whatever that means) and the fastest intelligence system in the country because we are everywhere, even in the most remote part of the country.” He was then asked: “How were you able to get the people you arrested…?” He answered smartly: “The machinery of arrest is not something we discuss openly here.” They probed further. “We are not asking for the methodology. You can talk about how you got your information briefly. You don’t have to give details of it.” He kept to his turf: “Well information gather is information gathering. And that’s intelligence gathering." He acknowledged the existence of job scammers which he said had led to the arrest of about 560 but stood his ground that NSCDC staff weren’t in any way involved. “How do you know staff of NSCDC are not involved in the scam?” He replied: “Because of the confidence I have in the leadership of the organisation.” He emphasised that it was because NSCDC was watching and monitoring the situation that arrests had been made. The interviews got more interesting... Sunrise: How do people know that they are logging on to the authentic site of the NSCDC? Have you taken steps to ensure that they are not going to a fake site in the attempt to log on to the real site of NSCDC? Shem: What I need to tell you is that the top management of the organisation, they are more than enough, they are up to the task. In fact they have constituted… (Interrupted) But you don’t know about those measures? They have constituted a committee that reviews what you are just saying. They sit virtually on weekly basis to see how to improve, what has happened so far. They do weekly review of what is happening within the organisation’s internet system. If the NSCDC were to conduct a recruitment exercise, what would be the process? The process is normal process.... What is the normal process? I very much believe just as all of us are aware, if there should be any recruitment process, I believe all the dailies would carry it for everybody to know. It is not everybody that really has access to this internet. Is that the normal process? That’s the normal process. Dailies would carry and tell you the website to go into on the internet... What have you done to ensure that all of these means, the websites that exist on the internet are taken off so that people are not misled? I am the Commandant of Lagos State. The question you are asking can better be answered by my Ogas at Abuja... You mean you don’t know about that? No! The mechanism of tracking down these things, I have told you that we have a committee at the top... (Interrupted) That’s not enough? Because you’re talking about people who are being defrauded here... Now you cannot say what the NSCDC is doing... If you type ‘NSCDC recruitment 2013’ you’ll see all kinds of fake websites coming up... If we are not doing anything, I wouldn’t have been able – or my team – wouldn’t have been able to make arrests... So what are you going to do to take off those misleading websites? The wrong websites that do not belong to NSCDC definitely will be automatically closed. And just as I have already informed you, we make publicly known in the dailies the correct website when it is time... What is your website? Ehn? What is the website of NSCDC? The website of NSCDC will be made known... I cannot categorically tell you one now because the one that we are going to... (Interrupted) You have multiple websites... Wait! Wait!! The one we are going to make use of I am not the one that is going to create it... (Interrupted) The question is, what is your website? Wait! The one that we are going to make use of is going to be made known by my Oga at the top. Yes. I can’t announce one now and my Oga says another one. The NSCDC has multiple websites? We are not having multiple websites. But the one that my Oga... Not the one for employment. What is your website now? The one you use normally, the official website If you want to know about NSCDC? Exactly www.nscdc Yes? Yes. So. (coughs) That’s all www.nscdc That’s it? Yes. That’s amazing My conclusion is that Shem is not internet savvy and the interviewers took advantage of his ignorance and vulnerability. I may be wrong, but his reference to his “Oga” at the top is the overall boss of the NSCDC who, in the public service set-up, is the only authorised person to release recruitment processes, which would include the website and links for that purpose. Something tells me that the scammers would be so happy now that attention has been deflected to the institution while they have a free rein. I see that his responses to the rattling questions have been taken out of context and it reminds me of how Justice George Sodeinde Sowemimo went to his grave a sad man. It was his responsibility as a Judge of the High Court of Lagos to handle the treasonable felony case against Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his political associates in the early 1960s. After a long-drawn court process, Sowemimo found Awolowo and his fellow accused gulity. But Awolowo’s supporters concluded that Sowemimo acted under influence from the government of Northern Peoples Congress, which his Action Group was in opposition to. In his judgment, Sowemimo did say, in reference to Awolowo: “... Whatever others may say, this is my personal view. I am not speaking as a judge but as a Nigerian. Here we have one of the first Premiers of the autonomous region standing trial. If you were the only one before me, I would have felt that it was enough for you to have undergone the strain of the trial. I would have asked you to go. But I am sorry, I cannot do so now because my hands are tied. Having sentenced those young chaps whatever happens I have to pass some sort of sentence. If I made up my mind to sentence the other accused persons who I find were tools in the hands of others, and if my conclusion is right, it is for me to see that a punishment by me in my court is such that others would see that there is no preferential treatment.” That whole statement by Sowemimo was reduced to just one line by Awolowo supporters – my hands are tied! And they added flesh to the skeleton – his hands tied by the NPC government and the rebel forces in the AG, led by Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola who wanted Awolowo out of the way. Sowemimo remained on the wrong side of history among his own people up to his death. My sympathises go to Obafaiye Shem.