Two videos about the police trended on social media last week; one was positive while the other was negative, so to say. The first video was a public relations’ stunt by the Public Relations department of the Nigeria Police Force and the purveyor was self-styled “People’s Lawyer” and popular social media influencer, Kanayo O. Kanayo. It ran thus:
No more Customs papers
“Hello my friends, from the stable of the People’s Lawyer, I need to bring some important information from the Nigerian police. Now, this was issued by the PPRO (Police Public Relations Officer) of the Force, Olumuyiwa Adejobi. No policeman should demand (for) your Customs papers; no! Except they are on joint operation with (the) Nigeria Customs Service; but not just on mere routine checks; yes!
No more tinted glass permit
“And for now, the Nigerian police (have) suspended (the) issuance of tinted glass permits and subsequently (have) communicated (it to) their men not to disturb Nigerian motorists on this. It is critical (that) I bring (you) this information because we need to have a good image for the police. Policemen are to stop any vehicle with tints, search vehicles and its occupants but not delay them on account of not having tinted glass permit. Please on this note kindly report any officer or group of policemen for questioning and disciplinary action if you are so delayed on account of tinted glass permit.
MOT or roadworthiness not police duty
“On what you need to tender – and this is (a) very important area – to the police on demand at any checkpoint or on routine patrol (are) just your vehicle licence, driver’s licence and certificate of insurance, especially for private car owners. I take it again: On what you need to tender to the police on demand at any checkpoint or on routine patrol are your vehicle licence, driver’s licence and certificate of insurance, especially for private car owners.
“You can call these numbers 0805 700 0001 and 0805 700 0002; for text messages and WhatsApp use 0805 700 0003. Twitter: @policeNG_CRU and email: policepcrru@ gmail.com. This message is from the Police Public Relations Department, Force Headquarters, Abuja. This is critical for the Ember-months. Thanks”
Google describes Kanayo O. Kanayo (born on 1 March, 1962; real name: Anayo Modestus Onyekwere, MFR) as a Nigerian actor and lawyer. In 2006, he won the Africa Movie Academy Award as “Best Actor” for his performance in “Family Battle”.
It is not very clear when this video was shot and whether the police contracted Kanayo for the PR job or it was public service he chose to render in his self-styled capacity as the People’s Lawyer; an appellation more fittingly won by his illustrious senior colleagues at the Bar, the likes of the late Alao Aka-Bashorun, one-time Nigerian Bar Association’s fire-spitting president, stormy-petrel Kanmi-Ishola-Osobu, Tunji Braithwaite, and Gani Fawehinmi. In recent times, we have Olisa Agbakoba, Femi Falana, Festus Keyamo, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, Olumide Fusika, Femi Aborisade, among others – all well-noted for their pro-people advocacy.
Will Hundeyin toe Adejobi’s line?
Olumuyiwa Adejobi, mentioned here by Kanayo as the PPRO or FPRO, only recently vacated the office on his promotion to the post of Deputy Commissioner of Police and was replaced by Benjamin Hundeyin (Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP). So, do the policies or positions enumerated above end with Adejobi’s tenure or will they be carried over by Hundeyin, the new occupant of the office? Were the policies the brainwave of Adejobi or the well-thought out policies of the Police Force in the discharge of its sacred duties of safeguarding life and property and serving the people truly as their friend? As they say, officers come, officers go but barracks remain the same!
Whatever, the video’s timing, this time around, is timeous, as they say! “Ember” or “ber, ber, ber” months mean the last four months of the year: September, October, November and December, each ending with “ber” and which, usually, are occasions when vehicular transportation is on the increase. It is also when the police and other law enforcement agencies are upbeat, ostensibly to prevent accidents and safeguard life and property but underneath it are shenanigans better imagined than experienced.
Three important take-aways from the video are these: 1. No policeman should demand for any motorist’s Customs papers; that is the job of the Nigerian Customs Service, I suppose. 2. Aside vehicle licence, driver’s licence and certificate of insurance, no policeman should demand for any motorist’s MOT or roadworthiness. Again, that I suppose is the job of the Federal Road Safety people. 3. Tinted glass permit, lately the cash-cow of errant policemen, is now a no-go area!
Let us hope that, this time around, the police will hear word, as they say, and take heed. Oftentimes, their pastime has been to snarl at you when you insist on your rights! They will say: “Are you teaching us our job?” ”Call the IG to come to your rescue!” ”Were they not the same people who gave us the orders we are carrying out?”
Who bells the cat?
I cannot recount how many times I have heard policemen at checkpoints say they were given “targets” to meet – as if they were newspaper advert canvassers or bank executives chasing deposits/customers! Do they buy their uniforms and shoes by themselves as they often alleged and do they fuel their vehicles on their own? What of the generator that powers their offices, if any, and the paper and biro used by complainants to lodge their complaints?
While I am not an incurable pessimist, I do not think the matter is as simple and straightforward as my friend, Kanayo, has portrayed it here. Will there be a penalty for bad behaviour, as was pledged here? Oftentimes, impunity walks stark naked in broad daylight because there is hardly anyone bold enough to take up Jesus Christ’s challenge to cast the first stone. For, as Peter Tosh crooned, if you live in a glass house, you dare not throw stones.
IGP: There’s fire on the mountain
The second video was that of a nameless person who simply wore a military (police?) vest. Kanayo I know, but it is difficult to say who this character is or whether, in fact, he is a real person or the creation of Artificial Intelligence. His message, however, resonates with, and revalidates our day-to-day experience with policemen all over the place. Hence, I chose to side-step the messenger and focus attention on the message. The video, whether addressed to past Inspectors-General of Police, the incumbent IGP or those to come, I cannot say! It ran thus:
“There is serious fire on the mountain! My IGP, I have come to you again to further advise you (on) the way some of our officers, especially the young ones, are behaving. They are pushing Nigerians too hard to the precipice.
”I am a contents person. I have a lot of followers and the feedback I get from them is not palatable. Why the indiscipline is across states, there are five states that you need to quickly take action (about) because most of the complaints come from these states. I am talking about Lagos, Delta, Edo, Kwara and Rivers. These boys have constituted themselves into a nuisance. They even engage touts to work with them.
”They stop motorists at will, threaten them to come down with their phones and begin to look for what was not lost. They embarrass people anyhow. They threaten people with guns.
Being young, not being Yahoo
”We cannot afford another #ENDSARSNOW. We need to quickly take action… The commissioner of police of these states should help you. The buck stops on your table. If anything goes wrong, it is your name and tenure they will mention…
”How on earth can you say (that) because somebody is young, he is a Yahoo boy? Because somebody is driving a car, he is a Yahoo boy? Because somebody wears dreadlocks, he is a Yahoo boy? And the worst part of it is that some of (these policemen) will force these young boys to open their bank accounts for them! What is the business of policemen in asking people to open their bank accounts or forcing them to give up their phones? I am aware that several signals (have been sent) to warn officers against this attitude. But sir, the situation is getting worse, especially in these states: Edo, Delta, Lagos, Rivers, and Kwara. You have to beam your searchlight on these states.
”Let me tell you, sir: It is not everybody that wants your success. We know these things. Policemen, too, are human. Some officers, when you tell them one thing, they do another! Some of them do not put on their uniforms (but) appear in mufti. No tag. No jacket that will indicate their particular section. They can just grab someone on the road. What are they turning the Nigerian police into? And we say we are the friends of the public! Police is your friend! What manner of friends?
“We have good policemen, to be sure. We have (true) professionals among our officers, but the ones I am mentioning here are destroying the image of the Force, and something must be done about it. Where is the monitoring unit? Where are the complaints’ response units? Maybe we should decentralize the office to make it more effective!
”Sir, the way these bad boys are going about it, they are pushing their luck too far, and we must do something quickly about it. They go about in unregistered vehicles, and vehicles with no number plates. You may have two policemen, but the others will be hoodlums! You must do something fast!”
I testify as a witness of truth…
I think we should stop there! I may not know what happens in the other states mentioned by this self-styled “contents person” but I have lived and worked in Lagos state uninterruptedly since January 1987. As a journalist, I have travelled in all the nooks and crannies of this country Nigeria, beginning my journalism odyssey at the Ibadan-based Sketch newspapers (now defunct) in 1985. I have covered virtually every beat and reported stories far and wide. I have heard; I have seen; I have reported; as an editor many times over, I have edited stories; and as Chairman of Editorial Boards, I have written editorials; as Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of newspaper houses I have presided over management meetings to discuss and take action on uncountable incidents of police infractions on people’s rights as detailed above. I can swear on oath in a court of law that everything detailed above about some of our policemen are statements of fact. And I assure you that I am a witness of truth.
But like the writer also said, there are good men, women and officers in the Nigerian Police Force; perhaps, more in number than the errant ones. Weeding out the bad eggs, therefore, becomes a task that must be done!
Says the scripture: “Take us the foxes/The little foxes that spoil the vines/For our vines have tender grapes” (Song of Solomon 2: 15).
* Former editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/Editor-in-chief of The Westerner news magazine. He writes the ON THE LORD’S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.
