By Helen Ovbiagele

Early, the other Friday, a relation sent some novels to me through her middle-aged driver, who had been working for her and the husband for some time, and was deemed an honest and responsible person. While acknowledging receipt of the novels, I told my relation that she was lucky to have such a sober driver.

She then told me that he lives on the outskirts of Lagos and that he resumes work at 5.30 a.m, Monday to Saturday. “Helen, he’s quite a find.  We’re lucky to have him.  He’s so dependable. He lives on the outskirts of Lagos, yet he resumes work at 5.30 a.m., Monday to Saturday.”  Then the crisis.

Mid day the next day, my relation rang frantically to say that her driver’s wife had rung to report that he had not returned home from work the previous night, and still hadn’t shown up that morning.  His mobile phone was switched off too.  There was much concern all round, as we all prayed that he would be found unharmed.

Relief came on Saturday evening when he rang to say  he had finally got back  home. What happened?  He said that as he was alighting from the bus on his street the previous evening at about 7 o’clock,  the Police suddenly appeared and rounded up everyone in sight, saying they were wandering and should come and clear themselves at the Police station that they were not criminals.

Protests that he was returning from work and that he lived on that street fell on deaf ears. He and some of the others brought out their ID cards, but the law-enforcement officers were not interested.   They were all carted off to the police station where their mobile phones were taken from them, and they were  locked up in a cell.

He said it was only on Saturday evening they were handed back their mobile phones, and told to call their friends and relations to come bail them out.  He called his brother who brought  the three thousand naira that was demanded for his bail, and he was released.

When I narrated this story to a colleague, she told me that only some days before, her brother-in-law who works for a company in Apapa, went with two colleagues during their break to have lunch in a buka.  The police swooped on the bukas in that area, arresting everyone in sight, claiming that they were investigating the case of an expatriate who had just been robbed of his briefcase in another area of Apapa.

These are no strange occurences in this country of ours. For several years now,  some notable Nigerians have been calling for State Police to be established. The call re-surfaced recently when we heard in the news that the Police in Jos couldn’t act to stop the killings there the other week, because the boss who should give the go ahead couldn’t be reached in Abuja where he operates from.

It was reasoned that the situation could have been contained if there were State Police, and  command given at State level for the Police to move in. For sanity in defence and law and order, it makes sense that there should be laid down rules which must be strictly followed to the letter while quelling riots and  uprisings. This is important so that the law-enforcement agencies do not overstep the boundaries in their zeal to do their work, and thereby worsen  the problem.

In some western countries like the United States of America, you have State Police, and every state is responsible for security in its area. This means that the command to handle a crisis by the law enforcement agency is promptly at hand and there’s no need to get clearance from the central government before  going into action.

If what we heard/read is true, that the officer to give the go-ahead to combat a crisis, operates from Abuja, and  could not be reached at such a desperate time, then our country is in grave danger.  It means we are exposed to all sorts of attacks, from within and without!

I’m not an expert on combatting criminal activities and quelling uprisings and riots, but thinking like a lay person, it just doesn’t make sense that there could be moments when such an  important officer cannot be reached!  An officer who’s in total charge of giving the order on our security should be on top of the job and should be available for communication/consultation 24/7.

If for any reason this is not possible, there should be a credible deputy who would be able to step in at a second’s notice.  The position is a tough one which involves a high sense of responsibility and loyalty to the nation, not to an ethnic group, a political  party, or,  an individual.  Let’s hope that that reason we read/heard for the delay in containing that Jos crisis isn’t true.

Now back to the issue of having State Police. I’m afraid I don’t have much hope of  this improving security in any part of the country, or making the Police become really the friend of our citizens, as they have in their slogan.  On the surface, it seems the ideal solution to ensuring law and order within a state, and defending its residents.

But the big question is, can this brand of  police do their work  without fear or favour in this country?  Will the Nigerian factor not set in, as they observe ‘he who pays the piper dictates the tunes’?

A police force should owe its allegiance to the country, not to ‘those who put us there!’  That’s why in a truly democratic setting, no-one is above the law, and anyone who flouts the law, no matter how highly placed, gets arrested, and the law takes its course.

Will the ruling political party in a state not use the State Police to oppress its opponents/enemies?  Will political parties in power not consider it their own private army for waging war on all and sundry?  To the point that card-carrying members would use the State Police to settle private and personal scores?

The rest of us would then have to cower and be reduced to a shivering mass, as we see our human rights trampled upon and eroded by this type of Police Force.  Life would become a nightmare; more than it is now where people could get arrested for merely walking on the streets, or standing outside their house.

I’m not saying that having State Police should be condemned.  It definitely can be helpful if handled with a lot of discipline and maturity, and with the right training.  We don’t want a situation where states begin to wage war on one another; thereby hastening the country’s disintegration.