Between Legality And Expediency

OSPAC has become a household name in Rivers State following the restoration of peace in most of the troubled upland communities of state. Many people are happy with this security outfit for ending the horror that attended both rural and urban communities in the state, yet still OSPAC appears a nebulous concept.
The termed OSPAC refers to Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Security Planning Advisory Committee (OSPAC). It originated from Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State at the period when notorious Don Wanni held sway in that area. But today the term OSPAC has been broadened to include security outfits of other communities not within ONELGA but who had their training from the same source.
According to a source that spoke with The Tide under the cloak of anonymity, OSPAC was formed by the people of the above named local government area to counter the terrorism that had been unleashed by deceased Don Wanni.
When OSPAC was formed, the entire Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area was a no-go-area. Company executive, who operated in the oil-rich area, were at the beck and call of the late Don Wanni. Don Wanni’s palatial home was believed to have been built by oil companies operating in the area. They either did his biddings or were ready to face the warrant when the need arose. The late Don Wanni was a law onto himself and nobody dared to raise an eyebrow. It was a gory and sordid tale of woes, tears, sorrow and blood.
The local government was on siege and nothing could be done about it. Nobody could go to the area without clearance from the police. If you did, it was case of volenti non fit injuria. Sometimes police intelligent report failed to portray the real situation on ground.
Many residents relocated to other safe places. Omoku, the local government headquarters, which had been a beehive of activities before the cult onslaught, was deserted as many companies operating in the area including banks shut down operations and closed their branches.
Raping, looting, decapitation, killing and sundry other criminal activities were the order of the day and nobody cared a hoot until OSPAC was born. The late Don Wanni and his Icelanders fraternity had enjoyed a monopoly of violence; kidnapping, armed robbery and killing of members of other cult groups especially rival Greenlanders fondly called Deybam. The Icelanders wreaked havoc in the area while the Nigerian police remained largely helpless and clueless.
Don Wanni’s notoriety engendered fear as his boys were ruthless but the birth of OSPAC was a frontal challenge to the terrorist’s stronghold. He had acquired a lot of wealth by sheer ruthlessness and the myths woven around him were awe-inspiring. It was alleged the late Don Wanni, drank human blood, ate human flesh and slept with his mother regularly in order to service his deities.
Real or imagined demonization of Don Wanni helped to populate the Icelander’s cult group as many youths freely joined the fraternity to run away from wanton harassment. The purported invincibility of late Don Wanni, government’s reluctance to bring sanity to the troubled area as well as its inability to bring perpetrators to book conspired to mystify the late Don Wanni.
Don Wanni wore military uniforms with insignia of a general and was treated as such by his lieutenants. Icelanders kidnapped people openly on major roads especially the East-West Road and paid taxes to Don Wanni. The Elele-Omoku road was a flashpoint for all manner of criminal activities.
The police could not handle the spate of violence that had reached a crescendo. They were often victims of cult madness. Some of them recognized the arrow heads of the criminal gangs, paid obeisance and got assurance that they would never be attacked.
The police had compromised their jobs and let law enforcement go awry. No policeman wanted to die consequently most rural communities in ONELGA especially were sacked. They were war-torn, ravaged by cult madness and hunger occasioned by lack of indulgence in economic activities. Many indigenes of ONELGA became refugees in other communities.
As the battle raged on between Icelanders and Greenlanders killing, bloodletting, gory sites and carnage were no longer news.
However, the Rivers State government led by Hon. Nyesom Wike said enough was enough after the cold blooded murder of more than 30 Christians who had gone for cross over night prayer by Don Wanni’s foot soldiers.
The Don Wanni was felled by members of Department of State Security (DSS) at his hideout in Enugu. It was then that OSPAC fully took charge and reduced crime rate to the barest minimum in ONELGA.
The success recorded in ONELGA inspired other communities in neigbouring local government areas to invite OSPAC to train their youths in maintenance of security.
Today, OSPAC is everywhere in the state keeping peace and everybody sees it as a welcome development. Where the police could not go OSPAC went, saw and conquered. Egbeda, Ibaa, Ubima, Ubimini, Rumuekpe among other Ikwerre communities heaved a sigh of relief courtesy of OSPAC.
Only recently, the order by Inspector General of Police that local vigilante should surrender their arms came as a rude shock to many residents of rural communities in the state who had experienced the nightmarish criminal activities of cultists before the advent of local vigilantes. Many felt that the IGP had either been misinformed or was quite oblivious of what the rural communities had to pass through as cult leaders had hitherto made themselves tin gods.
But the invasion of parts of the state by some members of the outlawed Independent People of Biafra and the onslaught against the police and other security agents has relaxed government’s insistence on total disarmament of OSPAC. Little wonder then that one still sees pockets of the local vigilantes carrying the hunters’ guns.
The emergence of OSPAC is a validation of the clamour for community policing.
That the local vigilantes have come to stay is a blatant admission of the inadequacies of the Nigerian police and the need to chart a way forward.
But with the achievements so far recorded by vigilantes, it is glaring that they need everybody’s support to sustain the tempo.
Nonetheless, one thing that readily comes to the mind despite OSPAC’s glittering testimonials is the legitimacy of the security outfit. The sheer lack of legal backing makes OSPAC an orphan.
Therefore OSPAC has become nonsense on stilt. It doesn’t exist in the eyes of the law.
It is the law that gives life to outfits like OSPAC and prescribes limitation. In Nigeria such law must be written. The Nigerian police was established by the Police Act, a federal law. All establishments must have laws establishing them. Till date policing is under the exclusive legislative list in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(as amended) and managed by the federal government. Powers have not been ceded to either state or local government to run any security outfit bearing arms. Where a person’s rights end that’s where another person’s rights begin.
In certain rural communities, OSPAC is liaising with police divisions to maintain security and have attained a level of legitimacy. Truly, such vigilante groups are likely to understand the limitations of their powers.
In other communities, OSPAC are independent of the police and maintain their own cells where they hold suspects in perpetuity unless bailed. Under the OSPAC regime bail is never free. It is costly. Prosecution is not an option. It is either a suspect complies or his life is terminated.
Pathetically, the security outfit hardly understands the difference between criminal and civil jurisdiction. That is why it is rumoured that it wades into land disputes and other civil matters.
Indeed, where the rule of applies, self-help is abandoned. The operation of OSPAC is a resort to self-help. But what can anybody do under the festering state of insecurity in the nation without OSPAC.
OSPAC remains one of the best security outfits east of the River Niger. It can certainly do

By: Chidi Enyie