Armed Policemen or 'Armed Robbers'? By Sulaiman Kazeem

Doesn't it bother you that the decadence in the Nigeria Police has grown periodically over the last two decades and seem irredeemable? Well, I am very perturbed but you may choose to feel otherwise.

Today, as always, there is a need to address the diminishing honor in the present crops of men in black, not as bequeathed to them by those before them. The growing impunity in the ranks and file of the Nigerian Police, the extortion, the harassment and the hostilities being meted by Nigerians on fellow Nigerians, day in day out.

Unfortunately, the motto of the Nigerian Police reads 'To serve and protect'. No doubt, this is contrary to their shameful activities in our communities and on our highways. Today, the men of the Nigerian Police, particularly those who call themselves State Anti-Crime Response Squad (SARS) are nothing but oppressors, armed robbers, extortionists, pedophiles and bullies who provide covers for criminals in exchange for tips, flee at the sight of men of the highways but humiliates travelers and rob them of their belongings. At times, they even go as far as implicating and brutalizing innocent people, and taking their lives when they pose a threat or refuse to yield. Well, that does not mean that there are no good ones among them.

So much, if not enough has been said of these inhumane treatments that we suffer from the bad eggs in the Nigerian Police, but it seem to me that it's either nothing has been done to curb this menace or the leadership of the Nigerian Police needs to do more than paying lip service. Please don't talk about the Ministry Of Police Affairs, Ministry Of Interior, House Committee On Police Affairs and what have you, they are just like dummies.

Unfortunately, a majority of the present crops of officers in the high ranks of the Nigerian Police are also beneficiaries of the corrupt system. They get their shares from the bribes Nigerians are being coerced to pay as bail or pure cases of daylight extortion from motorists, other road users and people going about their daily legal activities.

We can not continue like this, we can not continue to live like all is well, we can not continue to live in pretense and self denial. Now or never, we must choose to live in opprobrium and not to continue to live with the brutalities from the men of the Nigerian Police and our insensitive ruling class.

Today, there is a thin line between the entity called Nigeria and a Banana Republic, where some people are outlaws, if at all there are laws, and enjoys covers by those that should persecute them for crimes, while law abiding citizens are being harassed and unjustly killed in some cases by those who should protect and serve. Unfortunately, these officers have been unable to subdue the heightened level of crimes in major cities in the country.

I am very perturbed by the hostility on law abiding Nigerians, by men of the Nigerian Police and the inability of the system to checkmate the bad eggs among them. But I know, someday, Nigeria would be hit by an event that will change EVERYTHING forever.

Believe me, that day is closer than you think.

12/07/2017