Powers, Discretion, Indiscretion And Ultimate Vanity By Richard Akinnola 11

<h4>Powers<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reproduces a piece by Richard Akinnola 11&comma; a journalist&comma; author&comma; researcher&comma; lawyer and an activist in which he deconstructs the concept of power and indiscretions&comma; using salient examples<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The piece&comma; obtained from his page on Facebook&comma; is reproduced below unedited<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>I often get amused when l see videos or pictures of dark suited DSS details jogging by the vehicles of some public or private people&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>I have seen some with their special rifles guarding some private individuals and guess what&quest; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>These people being guarded feel on top of the world&semi; they see it as status symbol and l get amused&period; But let me tell you two stories&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>When the General Muhammadu Buhari coup overthrew the Shehu Shagari government on December 31&comma; 1983&comma; guess what&quest; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>It was the cook of Rafiu Jafojo&comma; then deputy governor to Lateef Jakande that arrested him immediately after the coup&period; A totally flustered and embarrassed Jafojo questioned the cook if he was in his right senses&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>It was at that point that the cook revealed his identity as an undercover security operative&period; Prior to that time&comma; the deputy governor related with him as just a domestic staff&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>So&comma; what’s the lesson I’m trying to bring out&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong> All you so-called big men&comma; both in public and private sectors who see it as status symbol that DSS operatives hover around you to protect you&comma; what you don’t realise is that these officers also regularly send reports about you to their headquarters&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Another story which involves me&period; When we launched the National Conscience party &lpar;NCP&rpar; on October 1&comma; 1994&comma; the SSS and police sealed the initial venue at Anthony Village&period; Our leader&comma; Gani Fawehinmi decided we should use Anthony bus stop from where we moved in procession to Ojota&period; Along the way at Ojota&comma; l heard someone call my name&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong> I turned and it was a friend of mine&comma; a police officer who was in mufti&period; He was part of the crowd to monitor the event&period; As we greeted animatedly&comma; he said&colon;”Richie Rich&comma; sha maa se ti e&comma; k’emi naa maa se te mi” &lpar;Just keep doing your own&comma; while I’m also doing my job&rpar;&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong> He later became a Commissioner of police&comma; now late&period; A wonderful&comma; thorough professional&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>See ehn&comma; what l have come to realise over several years is that our security agencies can be quite thorough&comma; despite their excesses&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;