I am enraged. I woke up on Thursday morning to hear that a friend of mine had died; I was shocked having not only seen him days ago at a function I wondered what could possibly have happened, as of that moment it was still debated as to what exactly had happened but by the end of the day it became clear that Bayo Awosika had been murdered in cold blood by men of the Nigerian Police. Like many I was dumb struck, the present story is that that Bayo was shot twice in the head and left in car by the police, which they then set on fire and abandoned. Some policemen have been arrested and they claim he ran into them and was speeding off and his car somersaulted and caught fire, the only problem to this account is that the car was well parked and the deceased had two bullets in his head. Eyewitnesses report hearing the gunshots and the police speeding off after their alleged arson believed to cover up the murder.

We might have to wait some days before the complete picture is out, but even after then what? The facts still remains that a woman is widowed, two girls are made fatherless, siblings have lost their brother, colleagues have lost a friend and equally painful, parents are alive to see the death of their son, this is the Nigerian tragedy we are faced with daily. In a country where law-abiding people try to make ends meet and enjoy the little freedoms we are allowed in this stifling environment, tragedies like this highlight the burden of  life in Nigeria, Bayo Awosika would not be the first victim of senseless police violence and predictably would not be the last. We shall go through the motions of castigating the police, making a show of empathy and each and every one would coil into our shells, we would leave loved ones with a void in their heart which no amount of justice and no amount of retribution can fill, in the end we watch helplessly as the “Nigerian humanity” is degraded once again.

Where does one begin to lay the blame? With the untrained and undisciplined policemen that make Brazilian corrupt police men look timid in comparison or the police command so inept that when one looks at the plethora of unsolved murders one might conclude they are totally clueless with regards to crime solving or prevention? Or do we blame the social inequalities produced by legendary issues such as bad leadership and lack of leadership or corruption that pervades the entire system? Blame in time of grief is not only self-defeating but it accentuates the pain deeper and robs one of any hope. When one hears of these “police murders” they seem so far away because one does not know the victim, but being so close to home I see that like everyone I am also guilty of “insulation” to issues far away from me and delegating change to people affected by the crime, with this death the scales are certainly off.

Before we bury Bayo Awosika in the soil of statistics as a victim of “police murders”, we need to honestly start to look at the needed re-organization of the crime fighting force that has become the crime aiding force. We need to look at the re-organization of the police politically and look thoroughly again at the issue of allowing states to have their own police force. Predictably, many would say I am calling for the amputation of the arm to cure a simple scratch wound on a finger, I humbly differ, the simple scratch wound has become infected and we stand the risk of death albeit slowly but the fact still remains that death looms. To those that would not broach the issues of state police, I lay not only the issue of state police on the table I add also the issue of citizen’s police, in the light of the failure of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) as it is presently constituted, logic points favorably toward allowing states their police and citizen’s police rather than perpetuate this mammoth agency which is more of an undertaker than a guardian of lives and property.

The federal police as we have it today is without mincing words a failure, not because of the police murders but the fact that in the last forty eight years of our nation the police has never garnered the support and admiration of the civil populace; it is basic that successful policing requires an “active and unwavering support and ownership” by communities that are policed, this evades the present force. There is a large disconnect between the Nigerian police and the people it is designed to serve, the people of Nigeria have never seen the Nigerian police as theirs because of its obtuse nature and distance to their communities. The modus of policemen not rooted to communities but posted to different communities leaves no long-term relationship between the communities and policemen, the police men are in other words “hirelings that leave the sheep when they hear wolf”. We need to contrast this image with building a police force where the policemen are from the community, live in the community, have a stake in the community and are known in the community, the incentive becomes greater and acting against self interest and community interest would definitely be sociopathic. 

The obvious is also denied when determining security needs, one basic argument for having state police is that different states have completely different security needs. We cannot continue to gloss over the fact that Yobe state’s security needs are far from that of Lagos, so why should Yobe continue to contribute into a national purse to support a federal police where her portion could be put to better use like education. It sounds logical to allow the states own their police with a greatly smaller federal police (to serve federal interests) and the states be the ultimate decider on how to allocate funds to their security needs. It is logical to assume that this security growth would be commensurate to their security needs and the specialization needed to arrest a particular state’s need would be greatly harnessed, it is very comical to believe that a policemen in Kwara who in his last posting spent all his time attending to domestic violence would be very “equipped” to deal with ravaging bank robbers in Abuja or better still what is a bomb squad team doing in Kebbi? Really.

Centralization of the police is proving ineffective; the Obasanjo Administration sold the idea that if more policemen could be recruited we would be safer, they tout the low number of policemen to citizens as the major indicator of this faulty logic, predictably Yaradua, a president without his own initiative is a disciple of this gospel. The reality on the ground does not seem to support this “low manpower theory” and the facts need to be checked if there is any correlation between increased recruitment since 1999 and the crime rate (which I don’t have) but judging as an ordinary citizen it does not seem so. Rather, due to centralization we have seen poor police salaries, police strikes, thieving of police funds by members of the police commission and poorly trained policemen. Centralization robs us of the ability to hold politicians accountable for security lapses as state officeholders hide under the federal nature of the police to explain their impotency, it also robs us of the effective optimization of the police force, it is not a matter of numbers with the present NPF it is an issue of efficiency.

Finally, letting states have a state police would not alone address all security issues. The burden of policing cannot be borne by government alone; the citizens are the major beneficiary of security and apart from their taxes must be made to chime in their sweat. State police must also incorporate a citizen’s police where men and women of specified active age groups volunteer hours into mundane police tasks while also incorporating communities in community watch and informing the police. This is not a sub “NYSC” program but one with citizens volunteering for mundane police tasks (non- force applying tasks) while still going about their normal lives, we have examples of this in North African countries where it has been successfully applied. This releases real police to do real police work thereby optimizing their usefulness and also increases the community participation and ownership of the security development of their community. The advantages of citizen’s force along with a provincial police would be uniquely suited to state and communities needs and would be more cost-effective and efficient than our present federal force.

Opponents of letting states have their own police force have always cited abuse of authority by politicians as the major reason for their opposition, they claim states are not mature enough for such responsibilities. First, despite having a federal police, government (states and federal) have abused their authority with security agencies from Tafa Balogun to the invasion and hostage taking of Channels television by the “Respect of Law” Yaradua, so lack of ownership by states is not stopping the trend. Where there has been real change has been in the strengthening of watch dogs to abuse of power notably the press and public opinion. Democracy makes it harder for tyrants to rule, our president was forced to recant his suspension of Channels TV license and free "hostages" captured in that raid simply by the force of public opinion, it was resolved quickly and in favor of democracy. Those who underestimate the workings of democracy are in for a big surprise; ask the president he is still licking his wounds. In other words it is irrational to deny that there had been no changes in the institutions that safeguard against abuse of power, though the changes might not be as phenomenal as expected but it is more irrational to deny the states to develop the institutions and mechanisms to deal with abuse of authority by denying them the opportunity to their own police force, these institutions would evolve greater after ownership is granted. If there is any time to rethink state ownership of their security apparatus to better safeguard citizens the widow, children, parents, siblings and friends of Bayo Awosika would certainly think the time is now!

Robot  Villager

# 1 I am enraged. I woke up on Thursday morning to hear that a friend of mine had died; I was shocked having not only seen him days ago at a function I wondered what could possibly have happened, as of...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 04.10.2008 06:42

emj  Villager

# 2 Eyewitnesses report hearing the gunshots and the police speeding off after their alleged arson believed to cover up the murder. We might have to wait some days before the complete picture is out, but even after then what? The facts still remains that a woman is widowed, two girls are made fatherless, siblings have lost their brother, colleagues have lost a friend and equally painful, parents are alive to see the death of their son, this is the Nigerian tragedy we are faced with daily. In a country where law-abiding people try to make ends meet and enjoy the little freedoms we are allowed in this stifling environment, tragedies like this highlight the burden of life in Nigeria, Bayo Awosika would not be the first victim of senseless police violence and predictably would not be the last. We shall go through the motions of castigating the police, making a show of empathy and each and every one would coil into our shells, we would leave loved ones with a void in their heart which no amount of justice and no amount of retribution can fill, in the end we watch helplessly as the “Nigerian humanity” is degraded once again. Akinseye, humanity is lost in Nigeria, i also received word of Bayo's death, and cannot but marvel at the capacity of the so called men in black who are meant to protect and help ensure our safety to be so brutal. May the good Lord give his wife and children the fortitude to bear the loss that ought not to have happened. It's a very sad thing for Parents to bury their children......very sad indeed. PS>....This is the email making the rounds in respect of the above story....if you are moved to do something, you can pass on the message please......: : TOGETHER WE CAN! STOP THE GROSS MISCONDUCT, INDISCIPLINE AND CORRUPTION OF THE NIGERIAN POLICE The Nigerian police have struck yet again, this time taking down one of our nigerian sons, husband, father, brother, friend Bayo Awosika.He was shot in the Head at point blank range on the way home four days ago. You could be next. Enough is enough! for how long will we let our lives be cut short and our freedom and rights be continuosly violated by the very people empowered to protect us? and our government stands idly by doing NOTHING! Nigerians, for how long will we contiue to let this happen? Nigerians unite! Let us take a stand today and fight this together! TOGETHER WE CAN! If u support the cause and want to get involved pls forward this message, its time we found our voice. GOD BLESS NIGERIA! http://modebayo-awosika.memory-of.com/Timeline.aspx Posted by emj| 06.10.2008 19:47