Background: Bolanle Raheem
Christmas day 2022, a young couple woke up expecting to have a lovely day. Gbenga and Bolanle Raheem had many reasons to be grateful for the year 2022. Business has been fine, they were living in an upscale area of Lekki, Lagos and they were growing their beautiful family.
However, unknown to them, that day, December 25th would be their worst day ever. A member of the Nigerian police force, ASP Drambi Vandi, would cut short the life of Bolanle while she went about enjoying her holiday with family. Bolanle was pregnant with twins and a mother to a 5-year-old. She was gone, just like that, at the hands of someone paid to protect her.
The details of the event of that morning are sketchy. The family had just been to an eatery and had pizza with ice cream. They were back on the road and about to make a U-turn under Ajah bridge when they were stopped by the officer. According to the Bolanle’s husband, a shot rang out out-of-the blue and his wife was bleeding from a chest wound.
Police brutality in Nigeria
Police brutality is a problem in Nigeria and has been an important conversation in the media and among the public. The Nigerian Police Force (NPF) was established primarily to protect Nigerian citizenry. Its website literary state that its vision is “… to create a safe and secure environment for everyone living in Nigeria”. Many would argue that the NPF has failed at this. There are receipts of numerous killings, maiming or manhandling of innocent citizens by officers of NPF to prove this. The 2020 END SARS protest and the submissions at the constituted panels provided evidence of police savagery.
Citizen brutality is not a new problem. About 5 decades ago, Olusegun Obasanjo, then head of state, sanctioned the storming of university campuses by soldiers and para-military forces. Many students were shot dead. In the intervening decades, there has been similar episodes of killings of innocent civilians.
Police bravery and successes
For balance, police officers have faced serious challenges to their safety, and this has to be acknowledged. A case in point is the recent attacks on their stations in the south-east by non-state actors. Sixty-five police officers were killed in the first half of 2022 by these terrorists. We have to acknowledge and praise the brave efforts of officers, and some have paid the ultimate sacrifice. Brave officers have been instrumental to thwarting many kidnappings, ‘smoking out’ and arresting several non-state actors terrorizing citizens.
The way forward
What is the way forward? The police force needs to be revamped and re-positioned for contemporary challenges. There is need for broad retraining of the entire force. I would suggest that officers whose missions are basic peace keeping in communities or in intercity roads need no more than batons, tasers or pepper sprays. And they should not be allowed more than that.
Those who are out for missions involving stopping specific serious threats – for example, banditry, kidnappings, robberies et cetera should have access to their service rifles/guns. This model works well in the UK and could be tweaked for Nigerian peculiarities.
Conclusion
There may be better ideas out there. An urgent government/citizenry conference should be setup to start a healthy conversation to seek out best ideas to revamp the police force. We cannot continue in the current manner. Citizens are desperately afraid of encounters with police and innocent lives like Bolanle are being snuffed out, regularly.