Nigeria has a lot to learn about stadium security – Akinsola

He was the General Secretary of sports in the Nigeria Police Force. Before Gideon Akinsola retired from the police recently – after 35 years of service – he was the Chairman of the Police Games. In this interview with Allwell Okpi, the retired Assistant Commissioner of Police speaks about his role as the Nigeria Football Federation Security Consultant and his   experience in stadium security for over two decades

Nigeria declined to host the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations after Morocco refused to host it. Was it just because of the election or was the Boko Haram insurgency part of the reason?

It was because of election not Boko Haram. There was no fear that Boko Haram will attack match venues if Nigeria decided to host the tournament. If I go to Kano today to prepare for a match, I can tell you that there will be no Boko Haram attack there. If they come, they will be there to watch the match. In the over two decades that I have been in the saddle, we’ve not had security problems during matches. But they have had problems in places like Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire. I can say that Nigeria has had the best in football security.

Can you compare fan violence in Nigeria with what happens in some other parts of the world?

When it comes to big-time matches like those involving the Super Eagles we have been able to manage such situations very well. But when it comes to the Premier League and national league matches, we have not been able to educate security officials sufficiently to enable them to understand why they are there and what kind of job they are meant to do. Now, we are trying to train them and that training will be handy in the next league season. All the clubs need to appoint security officers who will come to the seminar, where they will be educated and made to know that security at match venues is a different ball game. We need to educate our security officials on how to handle security in football match situations. An officer who does not have knowledge of match organisation cannot handle such situation. That is why at the local level our referees are at risk, especially when a team wants to win at home at all costs. I think the League Management Committee has been trying to make sure that such abuse is addressed. At the national level we have been able to marshal our security arrangements in such a way that we have little or no crisis. If we compare violence in match situation at the national level among countries in Africa, Nigeria will score very high. We know how to manage our people. By experience I know the conduct of fans across the country. I can tell you that if you watch the Eagles match in Calabar, even if it is not going well with the team, the fans will keep cheering. It is the same thing in Uyo; it’s the same thing in Port Harcourt. But in Lagos, different sections of the National Stadium, Surulere, had different kinds of spectators when matches were being played there. The fans in Kano could be very fanatical, especially when it comes to the league. I have done threat analysis for matches at these venues. In countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Congo and Central African Republic, you will see that the fans have a way, of looking at matches. If it is not going their way, they usually become violent.

You have been involved in managing security for major tournaments such as   the Under-20 and Under-17 World Cups, as well as the Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Nigeria. What were those experiences like?

In 1999, I was the secretary of the Under-20 World Cup FIFA Security Committee. Prior to that, I was in France for the World Cup in 1998. I was the head of the security team for the Nigerian Football Supporters’ Club to the World Cup. When FIFA organises a tournament, it always requests security officers who understand the behaviour of their country’s fans. While at the World Cup in France I was able to study the security arrangements there. My experience in France helped us during   Nigeria ’99. I built on that when I was the Eagles’ security coordinator at the Tunisia 2004 Africa Cup of Nations. I learnt some things from Tunisia that I’ve applied to other tournaments.

With the Boko Haram insurgency, how can the country prevent suicide bombers from gaining access to match venues?

When you coordinate security arrangements you must sit down with your team. The team always consists of every security personnel from various agencies. FIFA safety regulation states that a police officer should be the head of the security team for their tournaments, but you can involve soldiers and the Department of State Security. You are duty bound to involve fire service. These agencies are involved based on the security situation prevailing in the country. For instance, when we went to play a match against Argentina in Bangladesh, we all know that Bangladesh is a country prone to terror threats. Heavily armed soldiers escorted us from the airport to our hotel. They guarded the hotel. When we were approaching the stadium there were soldiers all over the place. That was a peculiar situation. If we want to play any match in Borno State, for instance, we will have to study the prevailing situation there. If we know that there is the likelihood of a terror strike, we will have to bring in the military, the police anti-bomb squad, the counter-terrorism squad, and individuals who understand the terrain. When it comes to a match being played in places like Uyo or Calabar that are considered friendly areas, the threat is less. However, there may be threats of probably kidnapping in these areas. We classify matches as high-risk, low risk, or friendly. A match that will be played in a place like Borno, will be tagged high-risk match. In such a case, you must put every security arsenal in place to ensure security of all stakeholders before, during and after the match.

Did you have sporting experience before getting into football security?

I played football in my youth. It’s only that in my days football was not given the kind of attention it has today. I played football when I was in the secondary school. When I got to the university I was not really involved, I was doing personal development. When I joined the police I veered into sports administration. I went to the NIS (National Institute for Sports). I have my certificate. I was the General Secretary of police sports for over four years. When the authorities discovered that the Police Games were not going well as expected, I was appointed chairman of a committee to oversee sports development in the police. I coached some police sports teams. I played volleyball and I coached the volleyball team. I introduced taekwondo to the Nigeria Police Force. I’m a practitioner of the sport. I reintroduce judo. Nigeria Police Force was leading in judo many years ago but after some time it became moribund. I was also a very good long distance runner in secondary school.

Some people, particularly journalists, accuse you of being overzealous in carrying out your duties.

That is not a correct statement at all. I have never underrated journalists; that is why I have many of them as friends. The thing is that some areas where journalists are not supposed to be during a match, they want to be there. What do I do? What is my job? How do I tell the FIFA security officers that have come to supervise me that I’m doing the right thing? The last time we had a little misunderstanding was when the Eagles played South Africa in Uyo. Before any match takes place, I always ask the NFF media officer his arrangements for the post-match press briefing, so that I could take control of the place. But for that match there was no specific instruction on where we would use. When the match eventually ended in favour of South Africa and to our displeasure, our coach (Stephen Keshi) was not ready to come out. The captain of the team (Vincent Enyeama) was not ready to come out. The place they prepared for the post-match briefing was a small conference room that could not take more than 30 journalists, and it was supposed to accommodate about 300 journalists that were there. All we did was to accommodate the first set of people that came based on the instructions from the CAF/FIFA man, who is my boss. Since the place was too small, I selected the journalists that lined up. We were able to allow about 50 of them in. I remember that some journalists that entered came out because the place was not good enough. I was not even the one that shut the door. It was the CAF/FIFA official that did so. The door was even shut against me. It’s not true I stopped journalists from going in. I’m not overzealous. The only thing is that I do my best to satisfy myself, the stakeholders and the rules of the game. I understand match organisation very well. I’m not overzealous. People need to understand me.