Looking at the trend and turn of things in recent times, one would ask if the police are out to protect those in government or the common masses. Their reactions to protests in Nigeria have been terrifying the citizens and forcing them not to speak out. Any protest that the police don’t either kill or disperse people with teargas cannot be seen as a protest in Nigeria. Citizens have right to express their grievances in a peaceful manner without being intimidated.
It is one of their fundamental human rights! At protests or meetings the police frown at any camera around because they are afraid of exposing the truth because cameras and Journalists serve as instruments for the documentation of truth. The Police should not fear the Journalists and their cameras because they are doing their work just as the police should do their own work too. Police should work with dignity because they are for the people.
Police is a noble profession but people have developed negative mindset about them because instead of protecting the citizens they brutalize and intimidate them. They are not supposed to harass or arrest people indiscriminately without enough evidence to warrant such arrest. A child in the womb has a negative concept of Nigerian police. Several parents raise eyebrows when any of their children shares their dream of being a police officer.
This image over the years came because Police is believed to operate in an environment of violence and see people as criminals while with their guns and other trappings of authority on their bodies and intimidating the people. The Police personnel are people born of women like us. They need our sympathy and appreciation to regain their self-image. Our views about them make them look like super humans and not like friends whom we can dialogue or talk to easily. A police station is not a place one can go to and come home to sleep freely when you have a case.
The Police overseas are something admirable and a highly paid job. If one is educated and posessed the technical know-how he will be respected. Every country makes its police force attractive because it is a risky job. When we talk about our own police; we are caught up with many stories that can make one not to come closer to the police. Each country has its own police force and knows how to handle them to reach their peak. They have their own procedures of power and how to train them to serve the country well and maintain cohesion in the civil society not to reduce themselves to mere beggars and extortionists on the roads.
They are paid well in order to make them work well without any attachment to Nobles and the wealthy. Today even in America the Police under President Trump is getting a bad image owing to their racial profiling and racism. Everything depends on the trainings received and the person in command. We see many killings in America that we begin to ask why? We sometimes wonder if the police are truly one’s friends. The killing of George Floyd and other blacks in America has created a hashtag of Black Lives Matter Movement which exposes racial profiling in America.
The Police menace is now becoming a global phenomenon but not rampant in some countries like others. There is ranking in the police Force; those with good education enjoy high privileges but the recruits always on patrols who do not know the value of man but have the power of gun, misuse this power and maltreat the citizens. This has dented the image and still denting the image of the police force. The blacks in America have almost the same concept of police image like Nigerians because of Police brutality on blacks. In Nigeria, because of unnecessary brutality from the police owing to the training they receive, only few people see them as friendly.
In Nigeria common report of an accident might implicate the reporter while in other countries it does not cost anything because civilians are seen as partners in security. Civilians and the police can work together for the security of the society. This can only work when the police truly become friendly and humane. There is no system created in Nigeria that after a while will not change for their own utilitarian aims which jeopardizes the good intentions it was created for. Is it the Judiciary, EFCC, NDDC, Customs, PHCN and several others? This is the hemorrhage of Nigerian situation and that is why we are the way we are.
These places need proper diagnosis and therapy to help us move forward. One thing I have discovered among the police is that they have empathy deficit. The intrinsic motive of joining the police must be critically examined. Is it for making fast money or being happy to serve the Nation? Many have argued that no matter how big the salary of Nigerian police officer is, money from the roads remain sweeter to him. It seems the DNA of a Nigerian police man is different from an ordinary citizen. It would take a long time to clear the preconceived notion of police from our minds. We have a long way to go in welcoming the Police as brothers and those working to protect us.
We saw what happened in the recent ENDSARS protests. We saw how the protesters shared their various terrible experiences in the hands of SARS at different occasions. We don’t know how to thank President Buhari for taking a bold step and his democratic action of listening to the protesters who protested against what hinders them from growing, meeting up their businesses and moving freely without being harassed and maimed. We thank the government for responding without shoving the protests aside with the wave of hands. If President Buhari continues this way, this nation would become great.
The whole world was glued to the Television seeing the mammoth crowd of Nigerians rejoice over banning of SARS. This is a response to their long time cries. President Buhari has showcased his listening ears. Now we have seen what listening can do. Listening is one of the characteristics of a good leader. Despite the response of the president and the IGP’s ban on SARS, the youth, civil societies, the church and other wellmeaning Nigerians are still protesting against police brutality and requesting for the reform of the entire Nigerian Police Force, release of detained protesters and compensation for slain victims’ families.
There is no way we can get rid of police but the only way to bring the desired change is through total reorientation and reformation. They should be well remunerated and trained to have a good image of themselves. They should be more patriotic in their jobs instead of focusing on what they can get. They should avoid quid pro quo. The treatment on SARS should be an eye opener to the whole Police Force. Once the Nigerians’ tolerance level has been exceeded what happened to SARS might happen to them. Nigerians are watching and are beginning to speak with one voice! Now that the IGP banned SARS and quickly reconstituted them into SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics Team), a huge question begging for answers is: Has there been an internal reformation and reorientation or is it just a baptism with a new name? The death of SARS wasn’t mourned and it was reincarnated into SWAT and SWAT. Is this just a political window dressing? Their modus operandi in weeks and months to come would determine if we have moved forwards or backwards!
VeryRev.Msgr.LivinusUkah is a Catholic Priest, Author of many books and a Social Justice and Peace Advocate.
