YET another aberrant, untrained or perhaps incorrigible policeman, Inspector Ozonwanji Joseph, has put the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) in the eye of the storm once again by his cruel and unprofessional conduct which culminated in the extra-judicial killing of Chikezie Mbah, an Ogene musician, popularly known as Igbo-Jah. The deceased musician had reportedly paid a friendly visit to the Police Anti-Cult Tactical Squad headquarters in Enugu, Enugu State, penultimate Friday to appreciate the police. However, as the victim made to leave the Squad’s headquarters, the suspect reportedly shot him, and he was later pronounced dead at the Eastern Medical Hospital, Enugu, where he was rushed to. The motivation for the dastardly act is yet to be ascertained. Perhaps because the victim was a household name in Enugu, the horrifying incident elicited restiveness among the youths and fans of the musician, and they even attempted to set the police Anti-Cult Tactical Squad headquarters ablaze, demanding that justice be served.
It is, nonetheless, comforting that the police were able to quell the violent protest, while the erring policeman has been subjected to orderly trial and dismissed from the service after he was found culpable of murder. The Commissioner of Police, Enugu Command, Kanayo Ezeugbu, had earlier directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to conduct a painstaking inquiry into the unfortunate incident with a view to determining the suspect’s culpability or otherwise. It is also good to know that the in-house disciplinary measure taken by the police against the suspect is just a prelude to charging him appropriately with murder in court as required by law.
It is most unfortunate that a musician who was on a visit to the police, his supposed friends, was murdered in cold blood, and without any provocation. The circumstances, and more significantly, the motivation for the killing of Igbo-Jah are still intriguing because, by the police’s own account, he was at the headquarters on a friendly visit. Apparently, the deceased was one of the few Nigerians who had internalised the “police is your friend” mantra/advocacy by the Nigerian Police. Sadly, such a belief, which many a Nigerian does not subscribe to, has proved fatal for this patriotic musician who chose to take a risk with arguably one of the most important public institutions in the country. There was even an indication that the musician was at the squad’s headquarters to thank the police for their services during his shows and to solicit further cooperation in that regard. The fatal incident necessarily raises a number of questions. Why should an open expression of admiration and appreciation for the police’s good work and cooperation cost an innocent and a grateful citizen his life? Is it a crime for a citizen to give public officials a pat on the back when they seem to have delivered on their mandate?
What gave the suspect the effrontery to execute the unprovoked and dastardly attack on the victim right at the Squad’s headquarters and in the full glare of his colleagues? Is the erring personnel of sound mind? It has been said time and again that many arms-bearing security agents need psychiatric evaluation. A few of them have been found to always conduct themselves in ways that put a question mark on the soundness/stability of their minds. Nonetheless, the point should be made that in the event that the police officer involved in the instant case is discovered not to have been in control of his mind at the time of the incident, such a discovery cannot be sufficient to exculpate his direct supervisors from culpability for arming and retaining personnel of doubtful mental capacity in the service. Perhaps if supervisors of police personnel are made to account for the quality of leadership they provide for the subordinates under their watch, the spate of unprofessional and criminal conduct by the personnel of the force will reduce. Pray, if an innocent citizen on a friendly visit to the police was killed in that ghastly manner, what would happen to those on not-so-friendly visits?
Sadly, this kind of sordid story is bound to further alienate the citizenry from the police. If policemen who are reputed for not thinking twice before killing innocent citizens on the highways and in the streets over trifles and with impunity are now replicating the same at their stations and unit headquarters, many citizens will be wary of venturing into police offices, whether on friendly or not-so-friendly visits. And, in particular, those who have vital information that may assist the police in their work will refrain from contacting them. Indeed, the incident has the potential to create a wedge between the police and the public, compounding the existing trust issues between them.
It is heartwarming that the police authorities have reportedly scheduled the erring personnel for prosecution. We urge them to diligently prosecute him without a recourse to esprit de corps. Severe punishment for the aberrant cop within the ambit of the law will help the force to burnish its sullied image. Again, the incident must be thoroughly investigated to determine the motive of the homicide and more importantly, to know if the suspect acted alone. The special and sensitive nature of the assignments of the officers and men in the Anti-Cult Tactical Squad clearly recommends a thorough inquiry into this gruesome murder of an innocent citizen within the premises of a security agency.
Certainly, the police cannot continue to present this type of awful image to the public. The police authorities have to be deliberate and intentional about genuinely reforming the service; the era of paying lip service, as it were, to the orientation of officers and men must yield ground to a period of bringing concrete expression to reforms. More significantly, they need to condition the officers and men to have respect for the sanctity of human life. It is anomalous that security agents hired to secure life and property are the ones turning around to imperil citizens’ lives. We urge the authorities to embark on intensive and regular training and reorientation of police personnel in order for them to keep pace with the ethics and methods of modern policing and the global best practices. It is time police personnel stopped criminal, beastly and unprofessional actions that embarrass the service and lower the country’s esteem in the international community. In addition to training and reorientation, the authorities must purge police personnel of their false sense of impunity, and the only way to do that is to ensure that anyone who breaches the ethical boundaries is punished to the fullest extent of the law.
READ ALSO: How I would have solved Nigeria’s problems as president — Atiku
