INDEPENDENT NG
Last Monday, Justice Ibironke Harrison of the Lagos High Court found a police officer, Drambi Vandi, guilty of one count charge of murder of Bolanle Raheem, the female lawyer who was murdered in cold blood on December 25, 2022.
The circumstances around her death would melt any heart except those of these criminals that the police keep recruiting to turn their arms against the same people they are paid and armed to protect.
Since I became old enough to read I have always read about the Nigeria Police promising to fish out the so-called few bad eggs in their midst. And If I still have to read that to this day then it means there are perhaps more bad eggs there than good ones.
I know the argument would be that even in the developed world, incidents like this happen all the time. True, but the reckless abandon with which the Nigerian Policemen threaten to kill people and sometimes carry out extrajudicial killings cannot be equaled anywhere. Forget the few cases that get reported, there are several more whose cases just go unnoticed or unchallenged because the victims are not from privileged backgrounds or highly placed in society.
To think that Mrs. Raheem was killed in front of her husband and children on December 25 after they were returning from a visit makes it even more callous. How can anybody claim that a pregnant woman with her children and husband on a festive day could possibly be suspect?
Now, if this unfortunate fate can befall a woman and family of such a status, then you can imagine what would happen to many ordinary Nigerians on the streets. A policeman that can shoot a woman would not hesitate to shoot any youth or man given the same situation.
The police, perhaps, because of their poor orientation and training are the most difficult people to deal with. It is difficult to have an issue with the police and not regret ever making the decision to approach them.
Not even the unfortunate experience of the EndSARS has changed the mindset of the police. They still harass, on the streets, innocent youths threatening to shoot them if they fail to release their phones, even when their superiors have repeatedly told the world that it is illegal and improper to do that.
All the youth need to do to be suspects is to be well-dressed and if they’re two or more in a car, then that is a red flag for the police. When has it become a crime for a young man with a valid licence to drive a car or what offence has a poor boy or girl committed because he or she is clean and well-dressed?
As recently as May, this year, Lagos State Police Command dismissed one Sergeant Ekpo Shimuyere from the Sogunle Division for extorting N98,000 from a young man.
The state Police Command’s spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said that Shimuyere was dismissed and disrobed by the Provost Department of the command for extorting N98,000 from the young man.
Shimuyere, it was reported, collected the young man’s phone and used a PoS operator to transfer N98,000 out of the N100,000 in the young man’s bank account: leaving just N2,000 for the poor boy, how callous?
Imagine what would have been the fate of the young man if he had refused to cooperate with the police while they carried out this evil plan. This is just a case out of several others not reported.
