The new Inspector General of Police, Mr. Olukayode Egbetokun has recently proposed the withdrawal of Police Mobile Force, PMF from VIPs and establish special intervention squad.
This initiative is to stop the incessant abuse of police officers by VIPs and political leaders. Also to give all Nigeian citizens equal security services.
Reacting to this development, President of One Love Foundation and Father of Nigeria Students FONS, Chief Dr. Patrick Osagie Eholor otherwise known as Ultimate Equal said that the pronouncement is a welcome development and that he looks forward to seeing tangible changes in the police force.
According to Eholor " the citizen doesn't take the police serious because they've lost count of many IG who made same pronouncements and didn't work to make it take its full course in the system"
He said that the police have lost their self-esteem, and become domestic helpers to the VIPS.
As an advocate for Police reformation, Chief Eholor said the police officers should be reeducated thereby spelling out their constitutional functions, according to www.indeed.com/January 27, 2023 stated the traits of active officers "Leadership, Project planning, Critical thinking, adaptability, self discipline..." if Nigerian Police can be trained to have and keep these traits, it means that the police reformation we are talking about is done.
"The force is not a joke. The police officers are now moving around with POS machine to extort money from citizens.
"This is not the police force I grew up to know in my time. This is a disgrace" he said
Although, Chief Eholor emphatically stated that the manner in which police officers are treated is bad. This has caused them to transfer aggressions on the Nigeria citizens which caused the Nationwide riot between the citizens and the police in 2020 called #Endsars. The police are not treated well therefore they get frustrated when they get to the street, try to extort the poor citizens.
According to www.thisdaylive.com/October 20, 2023:
"EndSARS protests began as a call to end police brutality and extrajudicial killings that have become endemic in Nigeria. Harassment and unfair treatment by the police are rife, and it dates back to the military era when soldiers unlawfully arrested citizens and violated their rights. But how exactly did it start?"
"On May 4, 2020, a 27-year-old 500 level Law student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University was shot dead in a beer parlour by police officers. A similar incident occurred on May 21, when a boy, an only son of his parents, met his untimely death in the cruel hands of the police. He was heading home from work at around a few minutes past 8 pm when cops from the Nimo unit chased him until he was knocked down by a moving vehicle. He was said to have died from his injuries."
"Seventeen-year-old Tina Ezekwe, who was preparing to take her WAEC exams, was hit by a bullet from a reportedly drunk police officer, who shot to disperse a crowd gathered after he opened fire at a bus driver who had refused to bribe him on May 26, 2020. Tina died two days after the incident sparked a wave of social media campaigns for justice."
"On June 2, 2020, a policeman shot and killed a 20-year-old motorcycle rider in Adamawa for not paying a bribe of N100. A policeman killed a 27-year-old man in Imo for not wearing his face mask on July 9, 2020. Samson John was killed by the bullets of a police officer on October 3, 2020, who unleashed bullets on the people at a beer parlour in Abuja. On October 8, 2020, a young lady was shot in the mouth by a cop in Lagos for protesting against SARS and police brutality."
These and more were some of the cases of police brutality in the country, which culminated in the widespread #EndSARS
Eholor however calls for an empowerment of the police officers also giving them a better balance and free scholarships to their children.
He also said that Police officers' family deserve to stay in the barrack when they eventually pass on.
On a final note, Eholor stated that if the government truly clamour for a better Nigeria, they must first change the narrative within the police force.
"We must purge the police first because the police are very corrupt. There are a lot of things that needs to be changed within the ambient of the police force.
Felicia Fredrick/Jobus