---

---

Nigeria: The Local Police Farce

Kunle Akogun

1 September 2008

---

opinion

Lagos — The gruesome murder of Paul Abayomi Ogundeji, ebullient member of THISDAY Editorial Board on Sunday August 17, has once again brought to the fore the helplessness and haplessness of Nigerians and the cheapness of our lives even in the face of the ubiquitous 'security' personnel on Nigerian roads and inner city streets.

The 40-year-old journalist was reported to have been killed at a spot very close to, if not at, a police checkpoint in the Idimu area of Lagos.

The circumstances surrounding Ogundeji's death are still hazy, as conflicting accounts of the murder currently rule the news media. As usual, we anxiously await the conclusion of police investigations into the incident. While the police claim the late journalist was a victim of armed robbery attack, many observers who are familiar with police antics are almost convinced that Ogundeji could be a victim of 'stray bullet' from a trigger-happy, probably frustrated policeman.

But even if the armed robbery theory by the police is true, I personally believe that policemen who were around that fatal spot that fateful evening should be held squarely responsible for Ogundeji's death. This does not necessarily mean that the police actually physically shot the late father of two. Far from that. But I hold the police responsible for his death because it is well known that a heavily manned police checkpoint is a regular feature around that spot. So, what else would those policemen be doing at that place if not to ensure security of lives and property? However, we all know better with the calibre and psyche of our men in uniform that roadblocks here are not necessarily for our security. In fact, they are often for extorting money from innocent road users and harassment and brutalization of jolly riders. Hardened criminals get easy right of way so far as they know their 'way' with the police.

This is our police, the civil force that is statutorily expected to protect the lives and property of Nigerian people. To me, the force is fast turning to a farce, as nobody here is safe in the hands of the personnel with their present constitution.

So terrible is the situation now that private security outfits have almost taken over the function and statutory duties of our regular police. And sadly enough, the police appear to have woken up to this reality of their near irrelevance in the society. I was taken aback recently with the question a high ranking police officer posed to the victim of an armed robbery attack recently in the estate where I live. When after the robbers had had their field day in the colleague's house, he lodged a formal complaint at the nearby police station, the first question he was asked by the station officer was "Don't you people have OPC (Oodua People's Congress quasi-security outfit) in your estate?!

Although the officer could have asked that question with the best of intentions, it was truly absurd and it spotlighted the depth into which our security situation in this country has sunk.

But then, the situation is the same in virtually all sectors of the Nigerian society, where the maxim is "everybody for himself, God for us all'. Nigerians don't have any hope of enjoying even the most basic of social amenities that are normally taken for granted in saner societies. This perhaps explains why, almost instinctively, we provide our own potable water source by digging our own borehole, we light our own homes with the aid of electricity generating plants, build the roads leading to our homes ourselves, hire our own day and night security guards and give our children good education at great personal costs. Indeed, virtually everything that should normally have been provided by the government is done here either by communal effort or by personal initiative of the individual. The old saying "health is wealth' has been bastardised here, as we now face the odd reality that in Nigeria, "wealth ensures good health". This is because health, like so many other basic necessities of life, is no longer for the poor here; it is the exclusive preserve of those who can afford the bill at private clinics and even so-called government hospitals. But we pay our taxes. Yes, at least most of the low-income earners do, but we are to expect nothing in return from the government. That is the tragedy of the Nigerian reality, a bizarre reality of a wonky state that is about to go under.

Those who are wise have for long seen the futility of depending on the regular policemen for security. So, depending on your pocket, you must go for armed security personnel who will guard you 24/7. Ironically, these armed security men are members of the same police force that could not guarantee anybody's security that are now so efficient in guarding these moneybags, even to the extent of being overzealous at times. It's so sad, very sad. We, the unarmed citizens of Nigeria are to the armed personnel what butterflies are to wanton boys. They do with us whatever they like!

But we should not lose hope. With new attitude to public service and a total reorientation by sundry Nigerians, I am sure we can still get to Eldorado.

Ramadan Mubarak!

I congratulate my Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world on the commencement of the glorious month of Ramadan. It is a month every true Muslim looks forward to every year with fervour, as it holds a lot of promises as the veritable purifier of faith and harbinger of abundant blessings. Apart from its traditional importance to our faith, the fasting period should be used by all as an opportunity for social and moral rebirth. Nigerian leaders in particular should allow the moral lessons of this fourth of Islam's five basic pillars sink in so that they can become better leaders of men who are not only sympathetic to the pitiable plight they have conspired to wreak on their countrymen, but also empathize with them as they daily weather the storm of bad governance, all alone.

It is said that "he who feels it knows it". So, as our big men of power have a direct feel of what it is to feel hungry at least in the next 30 days or so, a pitiable reality that majority of our countrymen live with on a daily basis, they should learn to develop a new improved attitude to governance. It is not enough for our big men to turn their houses to feasting grounds every evening where they fete the talakawas during the traditional iftaar. They should go beyond this ritual, which is of course very rewarding. The fact is that it only amounts to giving fish to the poor for temporary banishment of their hunger. But what the poor need badly is fishing net with which to catch their own fish, sell and use the proceeds to fend for themselves and their immediate dependants! That, to me, is the ultimate act of piety, which the Ramadan fast seeks to inculcate in the faithful.

Be the first to Write a Comment!

---