WITH IMPUNITY, THE NIGERIAN POLICE STATED: “DO NOT POST ANY BAD THINGS WE DO HERE OOOOH"!
The Nigerian Police in it's usual characteristic, stormed the street of Lagos on Monday 5th of August 2019, where the publicly announced #RevolutionNow was billed to take place and callously molested a Journalist covering the event with a harsh warning: “do not post any bad things we do here oooh”. It has really become part of Nigerian journalists and unarmed civilians to be shot at or teargased by the Nigerian police whenever theere protests for justice that have been denied all by the present administration. The police however, that supposed to protect innocent citizens have shamelessly turned to monsters that brutalised the downtrodden, in the name of following instructions from above. In Nigeria, police service is horribly evil to the masses despite it's need as an inescapable establishment that the society cannot function securitywise or develop even without, (Ojo).
The society however, needs the police function, which should be run in civility in hands with accompanying peace and calmness given while fighting criminality. The cordial relationship between the police and the civilians is all that professional policing entails. Unfortunately in Nigeria, the relationship that suppose to exist between the Nigerian police and the civilians has been turned into habitual molestation and abuse of all sorts to aid a corrupt and despotic government. The absorbed character of the Nigerian Police as quoted by Bishop R. Baits: “Even the gates of hell shall stay closed when Ted Bundy and Charles Manson come knocking, for even Satan fears that they may glorify themselves above him”. That is to say that the police will do everything possible to be praised by the evil government. This description clearly speaks about the Nigerian police and if not, why would a police officer who supposedly knows the law, utter the above referenced ridiculous statement?
Nigeria is the only country in the world that police blatantly aids crime. No wonder the unique name is the Nigerian Police Force instead of the Nigerian Police Service. The force have been designed to molest and deal with civilians for the government when the need arises. The unprofessional acts perpetrated by the police could be traced from colonial structures and embedded with ethic dominance of Hausa-Fulanis that work on sentiments other than service-orientedness. Hausa-Fulani dominancy of the Nigerian police force amongst others, began centuries ago following the annexation of Lagos in 1861. The British colonial administrators in charge of the affairs of the Lagos colony then, added over thirty Hausa-Fulani ex-slaves from Sierra Leone, as Consular Guard to protect the interest of the colonial master and cronies, to avoid threats from the indigenous people and not for the interest of the public. The thirty Hausa-Fulani ex-slaves became aliens to the indigenous people, though they did not speak the language nor understand the culture but carried out instructions as ordered by the colony, which initiated hatred for the organization. Police in Nigeria even after independence, has continued to protect the government, becoming a tool for torture, subjugation and repression against the masses, up to the present dispensation. Different crimes of corruption and abuses as integral parts of definition of the Nigerian police are quite awful to the well-being of masses.
It is this malicious act by the Nigerian police that Nigerians see and adjudge the officers as tools that shield all the evil perpetrators of the government that are ravaging the country. Today, two international organizations rate the Nigerian police worst of it's kind globally. The World Internal Security and Police Index International (WISPI), in 2016 report, rated the Nigerian Police Force “worst” globally in terms of internal security challenges. The report was released by the International Police Science Association (IPSA) and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), a non-profit making organization that brought experts, researchers and scholars on security matters all over the world. The indices used however, in assessing four key areas (process, legitimacy and outcomes) of over 127 countries were to measure ability of the security apparatus, in response to internal security challenges, the Nigerian police was rated “worst” in the index of four domains, with a score of 0.255 ranked in 127 countries, below the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Pakistan. Even at that, does the police have power to torture a journalist on duty? And on what authority stands the Police to molest unarmed civilians on peaceful protest?
Written by Obulose Chidiebere N.
Edited by Onyebuchi Eucharia O.
For Family Writers Press International
The Nigerian Police in it's usual characteristic, stormed the street of Lagos on Monday 5th of August 2019, where the publicly announced #RevolutionNow was billed to take place and callously molested a Journalist covering the event with a harsh warning: “do not post any bad things we do here oooh”. It has really become part of Nigerian journalists and unarmed civilians to be shot at or teargased by the Nigerian police whenever theere protests for justice that have been denied all by the present administration. The police however, that supposed to protect innocent citizens have shamelessly turned to monsters that brutalised the downtrodden, in the name of following instructions from above. In Nigeria, police service is horribly evil to the masses despite it's need as an inescapable establishment that the society cannot function securitywise or develop even without, (Ojo).
The society however, needs the police function, which should be run in civility in hands with accompanying peace and calmness given while fighting criminality. The cordial relationship between the police and the civilians is all that professional policing entails. Unfortunately in Nigeria, the relationship that suppose to exist between the Nigerian police and the civilians has been turned into habitual molestation and abuse of all sorts to aid a corrupt and despotic government. The absorbed character of the Nigerian Police as quoted by Bishop R. Baits: “Even the gates of hell shall stay closed when Ted Bundy and Charles Manson come knocking, for even Satan fears that they may glorify themselves above him”. That is to say that the police will do everything possible to be praised by the evil government. This description clearly speaks about the Nigerian police and if not, why would a police officer who supposedly knows the law, utter the above referenced ridiculous statement?
Nigeria is the only country in the world that police blatantly aids crime. No wonder the unique name is the Nigerian Police Force instead of the Nigerian Police Service. The force have been designed to molest and deal with civilians for the government when the need arises. The unprofessional acts perpetrated by the police could be traced from colonial structures and embedded with ethic dominance of Hausa-Fulanis that work on sentiments other than service-orientedness. Hausa-Fulani dominancy of the Nigerian police force amongst others, began centuries ago following the annexation of Lagos in 1861. The British colonial administrators in charge of the affairs of the Lagos colony then, added over thirty Hausa-Fulani ex-slaves from Sierra Leone, as Consular Guard to protect the interest of the colonial master and cronies, to avoid threats from the indigenous people and not for the interest of the public. The thirty Hausa-Fulani ex-slaves became aliens to the indigenous people, though they did not speak the language nor understand the culture but carried out instructions as ordered by the colony, which initiated hatred for the organization. Police in Nigeria even after independence, has continued to protect the government, becoming a tool for torture, subjugation and repression against the masses, up to the present dispensation. Different crimes of corruption and abuses as integral parts of definition of the Nigerian police are quite awful to the well-being of masses.
It is this malicious act by the Nigerian police that Nigerians see and adjudge the officers as tools that shield all the evil perpetrators of the government that are ravaging the country. Today, two international organizations rate the Nigerian police worst of it's kind globally. The World Internal Security and Police Index International (WISPI), in 2016 report, rated the Nigerian Police Force “worst” globally in terms of internal security challenges. The report was released by the International Police Science Association (IPSA) and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), a non-profit making organization that brought experts, researchers and scholars on security matters all over the world. The indices used however, in assessing four key areas (process, legitimacy and outcomes) of over 127 countries were to measure ability of the security apparatus, in response to internal security challenges, the Nigerian police was rated “worst” in the index of four domains, with a score of 0.255 ranked in 127 countries, below the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Pakistan. Even at that, does the police have power to torture a journalist on duty? And on what authority stands the Police to molest unarmed civilians on peaceful protest?
Written by Obulose Chidiebere N.
Edited by Onyebuchi Eucharia O.
For Family Writers Press International
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