Nigerians, I plead your indulgence to engage ourselves in a dispassionate discussion as insightful patriots! None of us can really say, a nation such as Nigeria would have known peace without a law enforcement security agency like the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). Some of us acknowledge their positive roles in securing lives and properties. But out of judgments induced by prejudice, some of us have restrained ourselves from endorsing the positive perspectives in the performance of the Nigeria Police in maintaining public law and order.
We forget easily that sometimes, cops do it at great risk to their lives and ultimately pay the supreme price; death. We deliberately fail to appreciate them and prefer to cast aspersions and dark shadows on the Police, as good only as agents of Lucifer. Th ese are the braggarts who dismiss the police casually, as “after all, they are paid with tax payers’ money.”
But it means much more than this unfounded self-delusion. Who else in public service is not paid with taxpayers’ money in Nigeria? But in spite of this cynicism about the NPF, anytime the NPF contemplates a strike, as frequently done by other professionals, including medical doctors, a traumatic coldness grips the nation. Th e phobia of a possible escalation of violent crimes keep many Nigerians indoors, once a strike is mumbled by the Police. We have gracefully multiplied crimes in our communities which confer additional duty on the Police to resolve.
Nigeria is constantly on the boil. Yet, we are not prodded to look at what it takes for the Police to eff ectively serve and protect us. Unfortunately, we isolate and single out the police for assorted chastisements and outright blanket condemnations. We pour out poisonous venoms on their integrity, morale and spirit in the performance of their duties, instead of appreciation. Of recent, reports publicized by two institutions- United Nations Offi ce on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)- really almost drenched my heart.
Both chronicled NPF as the most corrupt public institution in Nigeria. None mentioned statistics of high profi le crimes the NPF has combated under the incumbent Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Kpotun Idris, in the last one year. Th at the NPF is not saintly is immutable and a fact. But I still doubt whether it is the most corrupt in Nigeria. I saw the reports as attempts to diminish the crime-fi ghting eff orts of the Police, by projecting more its presumed ugly side. It is crime fi ghting back, as those who cannot infl uence any Police leadership dubiously, as obtainable now, tend to castigate more.
But with the multiplicity and complicity crimes have hovered on Nigeria, IGP Idris’ reforms in the NPF has presented a police force that is alive to its responsibilities; disciplined and courageous personnel, with eyes fi xated on integrity in consonance with the “change mantra”of the President Muhammadu Buhari government. We cannot continue to make the Police the weeping child of Nigeria. It is unconscionable, extremely uncharitable and unpatriotic. Th ey deserve to be encouraged to excel by appreciating the eff orts they are making to reform themselves in character and performance to spur them to do more. I am not a staunch Buhari advocate. But I do not believe the appointment of IGP Idris by President Buhari to superintend on the administration of the Police was just to fi ll the vacuum. Th e President was also knowledgeable about the rot and the decay in the NPF and the choice of Idris was informed by his impeccable records of service and competencies to salvage a security agency despised and disparaged to the point of losing public confi dence. I will not subscribe to the easy-going theory in the market place by some Nigerians that all leaders are the same. IGP Idris’ 10-year stint at the United Nations Mission in Liberia and East Timor suffi ciently exposed him to best practices of international policing. Th is can further be consummated on the verifi ability of his integrity, earning him a Medal of Merit by the President of the Republic of East Timor in recognition of his meritorious service. Citing far-fetched instances of the changes the reforms of Idris have done to the Police may sound like distant echoes. But from our almost every day experience with the present crop of police, unbiased minds can attest that Idris has been able to tame the tide of endless detention of suspects for days and weeks, without formal charge to court for trial. Offi cers in any Police station are usually jittery to detain suspects beyond the stipulated 24 hours without charging them to court or granting bail. Nigerians are aware how kidnapping for ransom had become a lucrative business among criminal and wayward youths in the country. Not long ago, the Police under IGP Idris napped the suspected billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (aka Evans) who has an amazing network and terrorized Nigerians for years. With his arrest, the tempo of high profi le kidnappings has lowered in the country. We are today talking about brave cops, who no longer look back, but confront dreary armed robbers in action. Th e armed robbery incident on Zenith Bank in Owerri, Imo State, which killed two police offi cers readily comes to mind. Th ey had the option of abandoning their arms and ammunition and scurrying for safety, but they patriotically executed the duty of defending Nigerians unto their graves. Nigerians are unanimous in describing these slain cops as brave and they are heroes even in death. Until we unveil our caged senses to see beyond our peculiar fogginess, we shall continue to unfairly belittle the Police and by the break of dawn, we shall only discover to our national shame that we have security agents garbed in offi cial uniforms, but very unwilling to protect us, because of our expressed ingratitude to their sacrifi ces. Agbese writes from the United Kingdom
