Masked Men: Between Criminals and Security Personnel

By Jude Atupulazi

When a person wears a mask, it is basically because the person wants to hide their identity and most times when such happens, it is because the person is involved in something they are not proud of letting others know about, as well as who they are. Masquerades wear masks because they are supposedly spirits who do not want the human eyes to see them, at least according to Igbo traditional folklore. When humans wear such, they are also anxious not to be identified. That is why masks have become synonymous with criminals and criminality.

But these days, a curious thing is happening. Criminals and security agents are falling over themselves over who could hide better than the other behind masks. Before now, anyone you saw on the road that was not a masquerade wearing a mask was a criminal, a highway robber or kidnapper. Once you saw him, you either turned and fled, or you started saying prayers. But one thing is clear: you would know you faced danger.

Today, however, the tables have been turned and confusion has taken over. We now know that not all masked men are kidnappers or armed robbers. Some of them are policemen or members of the vigilante service. And here lies the confusion. If you panic and run, it may turn out they are either the police or vigilante operatives (either Agunechamba or mere community vigilante). And you know the consequences of running when you see security personnel. They are likely to shoot you in the belief that you are a criminal trying to evade capture.

It you don’t run and get close to them, it may turn out that they are criminals and you will just walk with your eyes open into their trap. You can see the confusion.

The other day I saw Agunechemba security operatives wearing funny masks depicting some popular traditional masquerades. One wore a mask of Atumma, while another wore a mask that looked like that of the Ojionu Masquerade. This is taking this stuff of masks to ridiculous heights. Soon security operatives will be carrying the Ijele Masquerade and Izaga, all in the name of wearing masks.

This is no laughing matter because this new style is actually a security threat. We need to know what awaits us on the road. We need to be able to know when to run from robbers and kidnappers and when to recognize policemen and vigilantes.

I even believe that this new trend of wearing masks may pose a distraction to the security operatives because they are concentrating more on that rather than facing their main business of being vigilant. This nonsense should be stopped before it causes more harm. There is absolutely no need for that unless we want to tell the world that we are not serious.

July has come

This is July, the month the Anambra State Government of Prof Chukwuma Soludo said would be the take-off of the enforcement of two vexatious policies of his government. The first one is the imposition of sanctions on house owners whose houses are in vantage positions but are wearing old paints or no paints at all. Soludo wants them to paint those houses or face government’s wrath.

This policy is akin to looking for trouble when and where none exists. I’ve always thought that this was not the state’s biggest problem. The times are hard, very hard, and many are looking for ways of remaining afloat. The major needs of anyone now are to find food on the table and to train the children. For any of these people, asking them to paint their houses when they don’t see food to eat or don’t have the money to train their kids in school is like asking them to commit suicide.

I thought that if government wanted the state to look beautiful, it should foot the cost. This directive to house owners to paint their homes because you want the state’s aesthetics to improve is like asking all car owners to repaint their cars so that when they drive on the state’s roads they will be glittering. That may be a good idea but it is as long as it is government that will foot the bill. After all, if a husband wants the wife to cook good food, he brings the money.

I have looked at this policy and have found it very strange and it is beginning to look as if the governor is out of touch with the reality of things in the country today. Has he asked how much a tin of paint costs today? Has he bothered to find out how many tins of paint will suffice for painting a house? Why give a directive that you know will trigger trouble? How will the agency saddled with enforcing this directive go about it? Will they carry the affected houses on their heads and run to government house to deposit them, or will they sack the occupants and seal the houses?

If, on the other hand, government decides to sanction them, doesn’t government know that the landlords will take it out on their tenants by increasing their rent? Thus any way you look at this, it is a lose-lose situation and one that will only cause more pains to the citizens.

When I hear some of these directives from the governor, they tend to convince me that what they do at the executive council meetings are just briefings. That is, the governor calls his appointees and tells them what he intends to do, assigns roles to them and dismisses them. I say this because this policy should not have seen the light of day, abinitio, unless the government had plans to foot the bill of the painting.

I urge Soludo to first ensure that all the bad roads in various streets are rebuilt before thinking of telling people to paint their houses. Of what use is painting houses in streets where the roads are not passable? Soludo, mabaaaaaa! You failed this one.

The matter of government agents checking for vehicle licences/papers

Just when the people of the state thought they had heard enough from the government on the issue of painting their houses or facing sanctions if they fail, Soludo came out with another bombshell: that an agency of government would be set up to apprehend drivers (commercial and private) on the roads and check their particulars. This directive, which was also given a July 1 deadline, is to be implemented by another set of agberos (touts) in uniform that will either be created by the state government or by an already existing one; likely OCHA Brigade (this is just my thinking).

Soludo did not factor in the fact that there already exists a creation of the Federal Government saddled with this responsibility, which is the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC. In fact, the FRSC has been doing this job for years now with some dignity. But Soludo now wants to create a pack of agberos that will not only examine vehicle papers, but will also effectively usurp the functions of the FRSC.

I have tried to know the reason behind this directive by our governor and I have not been able to find any, except that it is aimed at raking up more revenue for the government whose tax regime has already topped those of former administrations in the state. In fact, it is like Soludo sees increased taxation in every opportunity even if it hurts people or even kills them.

But my major headache with this second directive is that it is bound to cause fights on the roads. I say this because the agberos saddled with enforcing this directive don’t know how to go about their business. Before anyone knows it, they would have put their nail studded sticks under people’s vehicles for their cars to climb over. Imagine if this is done to an innocent person how he will react.

I have said that this directive will cause fights and I mean it. It may also cause accidents as some drivers will be suddenly waved to clear and park in a twinkling of an eye. Refuse to do so and see what will happen to you next.

I think there is no need for this move by the governor because the better trained officers of the FRSC are there. But then, it is like Soludo loves doing things the hard way. But hard way or not, he should suspend the two directives and focus on other aspects of governance for now. He should really learn how to let sleeping dogs lie.