The Pocket Askari PART 2 (MUST READ)

.....continued from PART 1

At the station, I heard sentences like “go and met that man”, “we have took the case to the AC”, “your tyre is flexible at highway” with an irregular blend of Pidgin English. All these hilarious utterances confirmed that these officers weren’t around when God gave everyone the gift of simple and correct communication in English. I also imagined what strategy and criteria the NPF considers before recruiting its men and giving them the license to shoot at more intelligent men. Are these the kind of people put in the custody of our law and security? I made an attempt by calling on an Inspector at the nearest police headquarters Iyaganku but the deal had been done before the man arrived. The inspector showed displeasure and ordered the LPO or warefa to refund the money he had collected from us but he refused, lying that we never gave him any money. The inspector also threatened to relief the LPO of his uniforms if he fails to comply.

Police counting their 'booty' for the day

As the momentum grew, the LPO who collected money tried to screw up the issue by saying that I had no business with the case as it didn’t directly involve me and also that the police station had an officer who is more superior to the inspector I went to bring. As expected, the LPO got support of his fellow corrupt officers especially the most senior one. They called in the inspector I brought and gave the case its share of rat poison. Without long story, our case died the usual natural death after which the inspector told us to just let it go since the ‘suspects’ have now been freed. Now, this is Nigeria where all the police needs to extort poor citizens is an approval from his corrupt area commander. I and my last standing friend suffered some brushes in the hands of the policemen who forcefully pushed us out while the case was been killed settled between them and the officers. One of the officers that bruised me has a first name that starts with an A , and a last name that starts with an O. If the elites can suffer this much in the hands of these hungry and corrupt officers, I can’t measure what lesser mortal like the okada men and traders go through in their hands every day.

I stand to be corrected but I can figuratively say that, it is only in Nigeria that the police ask for receipt of the food you bought at Yakoyo Food Canteen or nearby Calabar kitchen. It seems the objectives of having a police force has been, to a large extent, shattered beyond repairs. With the corroded kind of English spoken by the officers at that station, it was obvious that they lacked any understanding of the law they were employed to protect.  Almost all our local communities and estates are manned by Vigilante men and private security guards paid by the inhabitants while our police men are busy on the road with the stop-and-search patrol that will only benefit their pockets. Raining courses and committing corrupt police officers to God’s court has become the only hope for the common man.

An officer doing it 'right' at a polling station during an election

It is therefore time for us to ask if checking of receipts and extorting the citizenry the essence of our police’s establishment. We have clamoured for state policing for a very long time but it landed on the very deaf ears of the federal government. A lack of state and community policing has contributed largely to the brutality of the police. The LPO in this case claimed he wasn’t from that region and could do anything for us. This and many other cases have turned the right of the citizens to the excuse for the police to brutalize. The more you try to tell the police what your basic human rights are, the more trouble you invite for yourself.

I recommend that the NPF reviews their recruitment procedures, intensify the monitoring of their job ethics, and most importantly train and retrain their staff. There should also be an independent and incorruptible monitoring team to checkmate and appraise officers on duty. I believe our police can actually do what is right if they have proper and effective monitoring and checks. I witnessed one few months ago at ALLU Junction, Port-Harcourt city, when a policewoman refused to collect a #200 naira bribe for fear of being captured by the security cameras installed at the checkpoint. The police is meant to serve the people and not vice-versa. More so, the quality of the police signifies the image of the government’s seriousness, especially to foreigners. We shall continue to call them to order until our police understand and abide by the core essence of their establishment. The faster a solution can be procured the better for us as a sovereign nation.

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