The news that a police officer was killed and beheaded during the December 10, 2016, Rivers State re-run election sent shivers down the spine of many Nigerians. Such heinous criminality could only be imagined in the dark days of Nigeria when spilling the blood of another human being meant nothing to the killers.
It is rather very unfortunate that police officers, who were recruited to ensure safety of lives and property of citizens during election exercise, public demonstration and other social activities could turn out to be the target of aggression from some insane persons who belief that police officers should always be on the receiving end of their anger. No matter the criminal offense of a police officer, must we take his life because of politics?
When the headless body of deputy superintendent of police ( DSP) Muhammed Alkali was found near a bush, it was his blood-soaked uniform that gave him out as a police officer. When DSP Alkali was drafted from Mobile Police Force Unit 48, Ahoda, he had believed, like all his colleagues, that it was merely an election duty and not a warfront. It turned out not to be just an election but a war zone. Elections in Nigeria are gradually becoming wars, where, instead of the ballot paper, the gun dictates who wins the contest. It is for this reason that the Nigeria Police should no longer draft policemen to election venues unarmed and unprotected. The barbaric murder of DSP Alkali is a death too many by irate members of the public against the police. Such atrocious acts have over the years been the lot of police officers in Nigeria. It is, therefore, important to start addressing this trend. Most demonstrations and agitations in Nigeria have snowballed into bloody engagements between the people and the police. A time was when university students regarded security personels, especially the police, as their number one enemy. By not remembering such bloody confrontations between the police and universitystudents is like allowing old wounds to heal. The country has not helped matters, especially the military governments of the past. It is such mindset between the students of yesteryears, who, interestingly, have become the leaders of today and had formed an opinion about the police, that has led to this pass. It is like witnessing the shooting of your bosom friend by a gun-totting police officer as a student, only to be appointed years after as the Minister for Police Affairs. Only the Good Lord knows the type of policies you would put out.
In 2006, armed robbers and gunmen started attacking police officers in Nigeria and the then Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, ingeniously argued that, if police officers who are sustained with the people’s money are left to be butchered by armed men without any noticeable protection from both the public and the government, then the police officers have no other choice than to protect themselves by using the same guns the people provided for them. According to him, “You cannot talk about human rights for the people and exclude police officers from also enjoying the same human rights; as if the police officer is no longer a human being.”
That was how the refrain “fire-for-fire” was born. It was a proactive measure aimed at issuing an early warning to members of the public and those likely to attack police officers on duty not to carry out dastardly acts by attacking and killing police officers “just like that.”
It has been discovered that hoodlums with ulterior motives are usually the first to attack police officers on duty. No wonder police officers have always been on the receiving end, especially from members of the public. The question is, must it continue like this? Why would citizens take the life of a police officer paid to protect them and their property? What sin did the Nigerian policeman commit that the society he is constitutionally empowered to protect is not impressed with his activities? Over the years, since the transition from military rule to this democratic dispensation, every inspector-general has tried to close the gap between the police and members of the society. A lot needs to be addressed by the present IGP in bringing not only sanity into the police force but also to ensure that the public hatred towards the police is curbed. The police cannot succeed without the goodwill and support of Nigerians. In Zambia, the cordiality between the police and the civilian populace is behind the peaceful atmosphere in the country, which has positioned it as the most peaceful country in Africa. Historically, the Nigeria police used to be the friend of the people. This trend was, however, upturned when political leaders started using the police as tools of oppression and intimidation against the people. It is even more painful when the people see the police as oppressive tools to steal their political mandates. This sour relationship continued and became worse with the immediate past administrations in Nigeria. Both the police and the citizens recorded a lot of causalities, as the spate of hatred heightened. Even with democratic administration, the police force is yet to find its bearing with the citizenry. While police leaders are making efforts to bridge the gap between them and the citizenry, political leaders are persistent in widening the gap between the people and the police. It is, therefore, important for the IGP and his management team to intensify efforts to win the people to their side as “friends of the police” before the next presidential election, if we are to avoid the Rivers State open dance of the python.
Right of response
“ Oga Ben, may the Almighty God be with your pen. l read what you wrote in Security File about police welfare, please l am appealing that you do another piece on police pension after retirement. It is indeed a very sad story that police officers are short-changed after retirement, unlike their military colleagues who now go home smiling.
From Inspector Friday Martins. Tel:08039655049.