Date Published: 10/08/09

An incedent Nigeria Police

The incorrigibility of the Nigeria Police is appalling, I mean it doesn’t take rocket science to think and act decently especially in a situation which shouldn’t require any complex thinking process. Even in primitive cultures, human beings tend to treat their dead with a kind of reverence and respect. But the members of the Nigeria Police force seem to be immune from this universal practice as they seem to derive some gory satisfaction and morbid joy in maltreating dead bodies especially those alleged armed robbers felled by the bullets of the police in their usually one-sided battles with armed robbers.  The other day specifically on Akowonjo road around Egbeda in Alimosho local government area in broad daylight, a police Hilux pick-up van with an open back was carrying two dead bodies naked as the day.  Now let us assume without conceding that the dead bodies being transported were armed robbers felled in battle, must we display such gory spectacle to the whole world in a world that has become a global village?

What does behaviour like this portray about our society, I mean these police officers are so bereft of feelings that it hasn’t occurred to them  that these victims were also human beings like them? What will it cost to cover these bodies when transporting them from point A to point B instead of assaulting our senses with bullet-riddled bodies of alleged armed robbery suspects in an open van in broad daylight? These dead bodies were male; I had to quickly cover the eyes of my six and three year old daughters to avoid them seeing such ungodly sight. The implication of this is that human lives have no meaning to these people little wonder then we have daily cases of accidental discharge. Just the other day in Abuja, a deranged police officer stabbed a civilian and shot a fellow police officer to death on such a flimsy excuse that the civilian parked his car on a wrong part of the road.

I will like to lend my voice to the call that, members of the Nigeria Police force should be sent for periodic psychiatric evaluation and new recruits should do the same as a matter of pre-employment process as obtained in developed world. How could we entrust our safety to madmen in uniform?  I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the police leadership to as a matter of urgency look inwards first in the attempt to combat the numerous crimes assailing Nigeria.  And to Mrs Akunyili, no amount of rebranding will work if such barbaric act by the members of the Nigeria Police continues.

Adejuwon Rasheed

rashyphilips2001@yahoo.com