The recent news report that 24 top police officers in Nigeria Police have questionable mental stability is interesting and revealing enough. The list of the mentally ill or madmen in police uniform include two deputy commissioners, one assistant commissioner, one chief superintendent and 16 assistant superintendents. Confirming this to the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs at the National Assembly recently, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mr. Mike Mbama Okiro, said that these officers are to face the Police Medical Board to determine their suitability to remain in the Force.

That the police leadership under the able shoulders of Okiro could summon the rare courage to tell the world what we do know obtains not only in the police but in some other security agencies in the country is commendable.
I am not a fan of the police, not to talk of Okiro himself. I happened to be once a crime reporter, which enabled me to know some senior and other serving police officers. That is my level of friendship with the police as far as I can recollect. And within the period the working relationship lasted and now, police in my estimation can be a friend especially if you find yourself in tight corners. But some policemen can be foes in the way and manner they conduct themselves on the highways.
But with this rare demonstration of truth and integrity coming from the top echelon of the police, it appears that Okiro himself is indirectly gradually enlisting me into his new fans’ club, which I hope will double with this revelation.

Actually, the truth of the matter goes beyond these 24 officers. Although, I do not have the statistics to back up any claim I am making here now but I believe that if all the ranks and file of the over 250,000 Nigeria police strength are subjected to psychiatrist tests, there is no doubt that a far greater number will exhibit some traces of mental instability.

Madness or any neurotic disorder that elicits abnormal behaviour in this part of the world where there is persistent belief that there is no cure for madness is seen as very odious. There is a general belief in some cultures that madness is caused by evil spirits or the moon. Undoubtedly, there is increasing association of madmen’s erratic behaviours with certain phases of the moon hence some cultures call mad people lunatics, taking from Lunar, the Latin word for moon.

Some cultures do not believe that madness is curable because of its after effect signs in the behaviour of the sufferer. Some will continue talking to themselves or depicting certain moods that betray their assumed state of well being mentally.
The other day also, Okiro won my heart when he paraded some depraved minds in the name of police recruits, who allegedly hired mercenaries to write the recruitment examination for them. The 45 police recruits comprising of 39 males and six females were arrested at the Police Training School, Iperu, Ogun State, while undergoing screening exercise before commencement of their training.

If the police had not been vigilant enough, you can imagine what this crop of “wuruwuru” recruits would have done to the police and the society they are being recruited to secure. Despite these drawbacks, our police work when they want to work especially when posted to foreign peace keeping missions, where the working conditions are conducive. Even in Nigeria, where they are forced to work under excruciating and inimical conditions, with hostile people and inclement environment, they still perform some miracles. Upon all this, the police are treated as a societal reject in view of glaring lapses. But it is time the society started appreciating the worth of the police so that their attitude to work and relationship with the larger society can also change.

But this issue of madmen being in the police is not by any means or any stretch of imagination limited to the Nigeria Police alone. That the police own is today in the front burner of national discourse is because an Okiro was brave enough to let us all into the inner chambers of the Force for us to know what is actually happening there for us to appreciate them the more. I am sure Okiro’s formula is ingenious and working.

In fact, we don’t need further statistics to believe him because every day you read of police accidental and willful discharge even among the greedy cops themselves over the sharing of “rojas” collected at the various checkpoints and stop and search operations. These are euphemisms for taking bribes among the constables and those in lower ranks. Such has become an embarrassment even to the police because the virus has refused to die, no matter the remedy.
Drunken mad policemen wrecking in alcohol and other mood swinging drugs use these methods to obtain money from motorists even at gun point in various parts of Lagos, all in the name of bring your particulars (parti-kolas) or “wetin you carry.”

With all of this increasing on a daily basis, I had expected that the preponderance of the madmen would be more in the rank and file than among the superior officers called “supo” as reported. A quick look at the police hierarchy shows that those on the top are always well taken care of than those at the lower rungs of the ladder. You can see that in their shining uniforms and their visage and carriage while performing their duties.

They represent the very minority elite in the Force. Their offices are more conducive and visitor-friendly than some stinking police posts that litter the country. They have the necessary gadgets that make policing an interesting occupation, though not without its hazards. This crop of officers has access to money and can really take care of themselves.

So, why the madness-inducing stressors that raked this havoc? Maybe they were saddled with jobs that can really wreck the minds and nerves of some people especially in a violence-prone and highly politically charged environment like Nigeria where politicians do all sorts of things to win elections including the notorious do or die tactics. Also, the increasing crime wave in the country can make a senior cop whose stress-coping mechanism is not so strong to go bunkers. Besides, some of them engage in lifestyles that can induce mental instability like binge drinking, sex and drugs.

With 24 madmen in the top echelon of the police, I don’t envy Okiro’s job. He has a lot in his hands, containing with his mad members, the madding criminals, the mad politicians and indeed the general madness in the society induced by hunger, poverty, disease and deprivation that were heaped on Nigerians by successive band of ruinous and visionless rulers who pretend to be statesmen.

In our present state of anomie, it is inconceivable that a political party is dreaming of ruling the country in the next 60 years non-stop and turns the entire country into one-party state. In such a banana state where all of us will be packed in an over-speeding rickety night bus driven by madmen, the drunken journey is indeed bound to violence.

There are various complexions of madness in Nigeria today. We have mad gentlemen and ladies, mad husbands and wives. There are a lot of mad teachers and traders. Mad teachers bully children a lot. It cuts across all professions. But I am mostly worried about mad drivers on Nigerian roads. They are the agents Satan is using to maim and kill Nigerians at will. At 150 km per hour, you need fervent prayers and blood of Jesus to reach your destination alive. I do not know if the madness has permeated the aviation sector in view of frequent air crashes in Nigeria. There is the need to examine the mental stability of our pilots as well as teachers who indulge in reckless sex with their students all in the name of imparting knowledge.

These days men of God indulge in activities that question the state of their mental health. Some kill their flock because of their sins and indulge in illicit sex with reckless abandon.
The Okiro revelation is indeed an eye-opener. It is time Nigerians started going for periodic psychiatric test to determine the state of their mental health. According to medical experts, Psychiatric medicine deals with mental, emotional and behavioural disorders, mainly psychosis and neurosis. Psychosis is a psychiatric disorder such as schizophrenia or mania that is marked by delusions, hallucinations, incoherence and distorted perceptions of reality while neurosis is a mild psychiatric disorder characterized by anxiety, depression and hypochondria. People who are diagnosed of any mental illness should go for medical treatment. Okiro has done a good enlightenment job on this aspect of the disease that Nigerians dread. Let the officers be treated and those found fit be given normal police duties while those whose cases are beyond redemption be graciously eased out of the Force.