Embrace the Police as a Friend? Wait a Minute…

Written by  Ayodele Akinkuotu
It was a day the Nigeria Police Force had set aside to worm their way into the hearts of Nigerians. The previous week, Mohammed Abubakar, Inspector General of Police, IGP, had announced with glee that a Code of Conduct for officers and men of the Nigeria Police was to be inaugurated. At the same occasion, he had told a gathering of his men at a New Year get-together that a new salary structure was in the pipeline, even as the Force has been given the go-ahead to handle pension matters for their retirees.  The inauguration of the Code of Conduct took place in Abuja on Thursday, January 10. All the bigwigs of the Police were there, apart from their eminent guests, among whom was Vice President Namadi Sambo, who represented his principal, the President. Unfortunately, a day the Force had set aside to reiterate their popular saying, “the Police is your friend,” turned out to be a most embarrassing public outing for them. What happened? They picked the wrong man to give the keynote address. We are talking of Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

 

In a most brutal excoriation of the police, Oshiomhole declared, “I am aggrieved; I am aggrieved over the murder of my private secretary and the way in which it was trivialised. I am saying this knowing that the vice president is here. My secretary (Olaitan Oyerinde) was murdered in cold blood and you (IGP) dispatched a DIG (deputy inspector general of police) to supervise the investigation; a DIG is a sufficiently senior officer. They came to Benin and they did what Fela (Anikulapo-Kuti) would have called police magic. At the end, they went for a civil rights activist (David Ugolor) and charged him for the offence of murder.”

 

Oshiomhole believed the Police were shielding the real killers. According to him, the State Security Service did a better job than the Police. The former are said to have actually got the suspected killers of Oyerinde. Oshiomhole seized the opportunity of his address to ask President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the matter. He is also of the view that the DIG and deputy police commissioner who handled the matter should be thrown out of the Force with “automatic alacrity.”

 

While responding to the stinging rebuke, Abubakar said that the case was still under investigation. So where did the governor get the police report he is threatening to release to the public? A day later however, the IGP disclosed that “the case is in court; it will be subjudice for me to be discussing it. But, we are going to reply that comment (Oshiomhole’s rebuke) at the appropriate time, and soonest, because he made allegations that are unfounded. But we will reply appropriately.”

 

The only appropriate reply that Nigerians would love is that the police should ensure that it is the “real killers” of Oyerinde that are made to face the music of their dastardly act. For too long, the nation has witnessed a Police Force in which a culture of impunity thrives. Before Abubakar put an end to the ubiquitous police checkpoints all over the country, those points were not only extortion points but they became the execution points of many innocent Nigerians. In as much as the Police want Nigerians to see them as friends, it is a fellowship many do not want to embrace. Many aggrieved Nigerians would rather overlook a grave misdemeanour against their person than bring in the Police, simply because police stations have become real scarecrows.  Thus the recently launched Code of Conduct is akin to a new baptism and being born again. Nigerians are waiting to see how it will turn around the ugly image of the Police for good. For in spite of their numerous shortcomings, the Nigeria Police are a key institution the nation cannot do without. And there is no gainsaying that not a few in their rank and file have over the years laid down their lives in the course of serving the nation.


Source: TELL