MATTERS OF THE STATE

"Corruption In The Nigerian Police"

Police is the civil force of a state, responsible for prevention and detection of crime and the maintenance of public order. The duty of the police is to maintain law and order, investigate crime and make arrests. Therefore the police department is a very important part of the government of a state, the safety of lives and properties in a country is determined by the effectiveness of the police department.

However, I will be talking about the Nigerian police. Every country has it's own police, and the have different ways of running things according to their differences. But speaking of Nigeria as a country, you will be left with so many questions as I'm going to be bringing to you some of the things the Nigerian police do, and how they react to civil matters. 

Having encountered many cases that involves police, I have been left with fear for the people's safety in Nigeria.

Almost everyone is aware of the day to day broad daylight robbery by the police while stopping vehicles for check, the Nigerian police officers are now generally known for collecting money from every vehicle and motorbikes they stop in the name of checking the validity of their documents, so many lives have been taken by police because of their refusals to give money to this officers after their license has been checked and confirmed valid. Yes, announcements were made on TV and radio stations that any police seen collecting bribe or requesting for it should be refused and reported to the police department, but unfortunately whoever tries this would either be shot dead on spot or arrested and charged to court for a crime he never committed.

This is to show you that the corruption in the system has grown far beyond curing and with the way things are currently, I doubt it could ever be reduced. Giving another instance, if anyone should make a report to the police station and an arrest was made or the accused was invited for questioning, a police officer will be the one to write statements on behalf of the complainant and the arrested, in their names, and sometimes dictate to them what to write which they must not argue in order to have a more concrete case, making things more complex than it ever was.

If your report is that someone is owing you or have duped you in anyway and the police were able to help get back your money, police will remove their share upfront and give what's left of it to you and still expect you to be appreciative for they have done you a great help.

Nigerian police are no one's friends, and won't do anything unless they stand to benefit more. Which is why  I will tell a short story of how a guy worked and served a DPO of police without pay for more than 5 months but ended up paying for things he didn't owe. This guy  was unable to secure a job until a friend of his (a police son)  decided to take him to the person he worked with before traveling, the man has a guest house that is no longer functioning and needs someone to help manage the place, so the guy got the job as the manager without discussing any amount with the owner of the place as his salary but he was ready to receive even as low as 20,000 naira, but to his surprise he ended up being the only staff in the guest house, making him the cleaner, the barman, the waiter, the gateman the cashier, the everything. Working for months without pay and being the only one wasn't an easy task for him so he had costumers running away with the payment of the drinks they were served whenever he was busy attending to other customers, that was how he ended up having a huge debt of 40,000 naira to settle, he went down with malaria 2 days later and then fell while working, breaking an arm, he could not work for days but had to call on a friend to relieve him. After some weeks, his employer came to pay his first salary which happened to be 5,000 naira, and not quite long, after some hours he returned with a larger bill of 75,000 naira, the guy was arrested and a statement was written on his behalf, he was threatened to be sent to jail and killed in prison if he's unable to pay the money, his relatives came to plead on his behalf and they were told they must at least pay something, minimum of 50,000 naira, his relatives had to look for means to pay the 50,000 naira. This is to show how corrupt the Nigerian police is, and to also tell you that, if you ever have a case with anyone who knows a police, you will never win the case.

They are loyal only to the rich, the powerful and the government in power, that is why police can terrorise at will without the government interfering. This shows no one is safe in Nigeria. A country where some vigilantes stopped herdsmen from entering a community with weapons and the herdsmen put a call through to the police, only for the police to get there and kill the vigilantes and free the herdsmen.

This is how police also meddle with the matters of the State.

Adeniji Victoria Oluwaremilekun

~Niggress Vikki

March 29, 2018