Nothing baffles the public anymore, A senator accused the
Inspector General of Police of corruption. He painted a picture of money for
postings and promotion, No one felt enough repugnance to demand an inquiry...
Zero tolerance for corruption is a mere slogan. He announced that the police
hierarchy leases policemen to companies and individuals and feeds on the
returns. The fees paid by these companies, if the senator has any credibility,
are stolen. The man making the accusation is not a disgruntled barber or a
roadside lunatic. He is an ex police officer. The nation has carried on,
unperturbed. The police leadership has launched a reprisal. The nation has
watched on with disinterest. IGP-Idris The police have turned on the whistle
blower. Nothing can be more vengeful. But there is no public moral outrage.
Nothing can be more starkly contemptuous of decency. But everyone has remained
aloof. The police dismissed the allegations as fictional and malicious. The
police then proceeded to remember that the senator, who left the police seven
years ago, didn’t leave with proper permission. They are not ashamed of the
timing of their revelation. It must be a coincidence. The police want the man
who has accused its leadership of corruption to be thrown out of the Senate. Anyone
conversant with how the police should work would cringe in shame. But there are
no scandals, here, anymore. The brazenness of the police action is nauseating.
The Federal Government hasn’t stirred. The Federal Government has grown used to
its agencies and officials trading public accusations of corruption and
insults. Oyingbo market women have thought public officers how it is done. The
police have invited the senator. They want him to come with his discharge
certificate. They believe it was forged. The police have the power to
investigate whomsoever and whatsoever they choose. It’s constitutional.
Judicious application and good faith have now become trivial, dispensable,
considerations. Powers are routinely abused in Nigeria. We aren’t that sophisticated.
So the police cant be worried about perception. The impression that anyone who
accuses the police of corruption invites the anger of the police may be ugly.
The police aren’t interested in optics. It is wrong to make unfounded malicious
allegations against public officers. It’s heinous to make wild allegations
against law enforcement agents. But a dossier of allegations against the
Inspector General of Police and the police by a serving senator, who is an ex
police officer, must be treated as weighty. It deserves a thorough external
examination. We know Senator Missau is now a politician. So we can treat his
allegation that the IGP is ‘aggressively pursuing nepotistic tendencies in favor of his Nupe officers and men’ as an emotional outburst. Senator Missau
is an ex police officer. So we must find out if it true that commissioners of
police and mobile commanders pay millions of naira to influence their postings
as he alleged. Such a practice will damage service discipline and
institutionalize corruption. That allegation should startle the nation. But
perhaps the nation knows too much already. It knows that positions in public
service are categorized as lucrative, not so lucrative and wretched. It knows
it happens in Customs service, Immigration service, everywhere. We know that
policemen still regularly extort motorists. We know that visibly nothing has
changed in the police in the last two years. Statistics and public perception
are there for all to see. The United Nations Office for Drugs and Crimes rates
the police as the most corrupt institution in Nigeria in its 2017 report. The
police can find a little solace in the fact that all our institutions are
totally corrupt. But we must be worried that the police can find moral anger to
retaliate against anyone who has accused them of corruption. That’s actually
baffling. It doesn’t matter if Senator Missau ran away from the police. It
doesn’t matter if he is a fugitive. We must pay attention to what he
christened, a simple and patriotic advice to the police. We can forget about
who collects the millions of naira paid by companies and individuals who hire
our policemen. We know they hire our policemen. We are not blind. We see our
policemen carrying bags for big men, every day. We can sort that out later. A man
whose house is on fire shouldn’t be preoccupied with the chasing of rats.
However, we must find out if an ungodly number of policemen, if 50,000
policemen, are actually deployed to banks and oil companies and rich men. It is
important because we routinely witness inexperienced robbers raid homes and lay
siege on our roads. We, daily, lose lives and property to criminals because of
weak police presence. The police may be entitled to their righteous
indignation. But we can’t let that confuse us. Senator Missau may not have a
discharge certificate. That is really superfluous nonsense in our present
circumstance. Senator Missau could be a deserter. If he deserted, he deserted
eons ago. He contested election, publicly, in 2015. He has been in the Senate
for two whole years. He can as well remain a deserter. What must concern us is
whether his allegations have any truth in them. If the Inspector General has
made administrative changes that hamper the smooth functioning of the police,
we must be worried. If the Inspector General has created too many investigative
units under his office and has usurped the duties of the Deputy Inspector
General in charge of Investigations, we must understand his motives. He may
mean well. But we cannot build a society without functional institutions. And
we can’t found institutions on administrative arbitrariness. Public
institutions should be protected. We may not believe the senator yet, and treat
the Inspector General like a felon. But we cannot allow any law enforcement
agency intimidate a whistle blower. We must investigate the allegations. Every
public officer reports ultimately to the people. When he is accused of
corruption he must answer to the charges exhaustively and with decorum. When he
takes to arrogance the impression is that he is beyond scrutiny. When he throws
tantrums, the impression is that he has contempt for the public. Where on earth
does a law enforcement agent accused of corruption begin an investigation into
his accuser’s past even before the dust raised by his accuser’s allegations has
settled? Only in Nigeria. Shame,why have you departed?
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