The Police and Nigerian politicians
THERE is no doubt that the Nigeria Police Force has suffered a fate worse than death in the course of our tortuous journey of nation-building so far. Starting from the time after the attainment of our political independence till date, the police in Nigeria has almost always been at the receiving end of the antics of Nigerian politicians, whether in uniform or in mufti. For instance, in the first republic, during the Awolowo-Akintola political struggle for supremacy in the Western region that later snowballed into grave regional crisis, the Nigeria Police Force had received more than its fair share in bearing the brunt of that crisis. Consequently, not a handful of its officers deployed at the time to quell the raging crisis lost their precious lives for a cause they obviously knew nothing about. Arguably, even those who narrowly escaped death by the whiskers and with various degrees of injuries did not in any way receive compensation. Understandably, however, though the Police was not ...