By ohanele casca, 08134192508
I wish to start this piece by reminding us of the common parlance by the police which says; “Police is your friend.” This claim has received a lot of knocks from members of the public as a result of their experiences in the hands of the operatives of the Nigeria police. It cannot be denied that there are some bad eggs in the police force as is the case in other establishments in Nigeria. Cases of police personnel aiding and abating crimes are rife. That police operatives have sometimes assaulted or maimed members of the public in the line of their duty is not deniable. The crime of the police in the eyes of the public is uncountable. One cannot talk about police and their offences without mentioning the road block and the Egunje syndrome or the money for bail virus which puts to question the claim that police is our friend. Be that as it may, suffice it to say that no matter how the public hate or despise the police, the fact that our society would have been so unbearable without the presence of the police around us on daily basis cannot be overemphasized.
I have not come to blame the police for what they may have done wrong over the years or to take a swipe on any individual police personnel as what I may say might not be different from what millions of Nigerians have said to be the challenges facing the police. The police authorities and government have also acknowledged the fact that all is not well with the Nigerian police. To my mind, I think we have reached a point where we should not only be criticizing the police but should as well ask ourselves, how we as responsible citizens assist the police to carry out their function of maintaining peace and protecting lives and properties of Nigerians and legal foreigner in the country? The police are not magicians. They work with information. They are trained not to easily believe things without proper investigations. They are human beings with their own emotions and challenges as individuals. They live in the same country with us and face the challenges of bad economy and must feed their families and take care of their domestic and social responsibilities in the families they come from. The police man takes risk, keeping awake while others sleep, lying in wait for the criminals whose pattern of attacked and time of attack is unknown hence he has to keep alert at all times. Such a person should not be provoked unnecessarily. Such a person should not be dragged into political matters or into controversy or even linked to any form of compromise without adequate proof. It is on these premise that police is our friend will make sense.
It is better to have the police as friends than as an enemy and that can only be possible when we respect the law. The police can only be our friend when we live in harmony with our neighbours conducting ourselves in a manner that cannot cause a breach of public peace. A commonly used adage in Nigeria says; ‘Yanga dey sleep, trouble come wake am’ the police man cannot arrest a law abiding citizen just like that. There must be a fire that will produce the smoke. If all Nigerians will resolve to assist the police, some of the challenges facing the force will be tackled with easy. The police man needs accommodation and the guarantee that should anything untoward happens to him or her in the line of safeguarding lives and properties of fellow Nigerians, his dependants will be taken care of. Unfortunately, the police man has no decent accommodation as there are no barracks for them as they are forced to live among the same criminals he is suppose to fight. What a risk to the lives of the men and women of the police force? The risk they face each day make them endangered species yet their remuneration cannot take care of their families who always bear the brunt of their long absence from the house in the line of their duty.
This scenario has in no small way dampened the moral of men and women of the Nigeria police force. In Imo in particular, the situation is not quite different but has some uniqueness that makes policing the state somehow cumbersome. Since the Otokoto saga in Owerri, the Niger Delta militancy, the kidnappings and political activities in Imo State in the face of sky rocketing unemployment, the youths of Imo have been left in the hands of manipulators. This development heightened security tension in the state which overwhelmed some of the police commissioners sent to Imo. It may not be totally incorrect to say that some of the police commissioners were also compromised by the corrupt nature of our society. Some of them became accomplice to some authorities that be in Imo assisting some highly privileged individuals to perpetuate crimes and intimidate Imolites.
Among the rank and files, officers and men of the police force also felt the brunt of some of the commissioners that held sway in Imo. Their welfare was not given the attention it requires. Indiscipline was at its peak as senior officers and their subordinates openly fight over stipends. The heads of different police units converted their squads into consultancy outfit for revenue mobilization for ‘Oga at the top.’ There was proliferation of operational units and in some cases, some bad eggs among those units erode the purpose for which they are constituted and deviate for the purpose of extorting funds from members of the public and some big heads in the society who capitalize on the greed of some of the bad egg in the police and turned such people into their private police. In short, the essence of policing Imo state was lost as Owerri turned into a city where anything goes. Nude clubs and prostitution became quite an alarming menace thereby attracting more criminal elements into the state where hotel business is the only ‘Oil Company’ we have.
In the area of decency and decorum, the morale of the police was low. The DPOs, unit commanders, road block heads, in fact from bottom to the top of the police, it became a rife public impression that subordinates were made to give’ returns’ to their superiors for them to retain their posting or for a posting to a lucrative unit. The police somehow, became a lottery business ‘Etiokwe rie okwe’. In those years, no day passes without cases of kidnapping, bank robbery, child abduction and other violent crimes because those saddled with the responsibility of policing the state were busy chasing shadows. The police during those years many Imolites believe were at the beck and call of the chief executive of the state, the governor. Their commitments may not have been total to the dictates of their constitutional responsibilities hence the cliché the police is your friend became useless in the minds of Imolites who were left at the mercy of criminals.
The rules of law were not adhered to as expected because the enforcers of the rules, the police, behaved as people above the law. In summation, one would not be contradicted to submit that the image of the Nigeria police in Imo in particular in those years I would prefer to refer to as dark years was nothing to be proud of by any Nigeria police nay Nigerians. Those dark years witnessed abuse of female members of the force by superiors. It witnessed the era of money for posting and money for security. Police men were shared to rich men who could afford to pay for their services yet kidnapping of the rich persisted. In those years, the police men and women buy their kits with their money. Operatives of the police were denied annual leave as at when due during the dark years. Response to information from members of the public was treated with levity living the police scampering when duty calls for action. Most actions of the men and women of the force were not anchored on intelligence but on pecuniary interest in those years. Aside the Police Public Relations Unit and few operational units that distinguished themselves but were eclipsed by the already negative impression of the public against the police, no sane society will pray to have themselves in the past experience.
Assessing the operations and level of efficiency of the Imo police command in the past and what is obtainable in the present, any security conscious Imolite and close observer of the level of morale and attitude of men and women of the Nigeria Police, Imo State Command, will attest that there have been a sharp contrast in almost all the facets of the police in Imo. It is said that when the head is rotten, the body will no doubt be rotten. There must have been something fundamentally wrong that was not handle properly then which is being handled differently today.
Before now, criminals have had a field day in Imo State. At the early days of the present administration, the state was almost being taken over by criminal elements. Even the Operation Rescue Policing of Okorocha’s administration did not bring succor to the citizens of the state as the structure was hijacked by some government agencies to harass and intimidate those that are critical to the obnoxious policies and programmes of the administration which were later confirmed by courts of competent jurisdiction as unlawful. The situation got worst with the formation through the back door and launching of somewhat state police named Imo Security Network, ISN. The government and some of its agencies, parastatals and public officers turned the Imo Security Network into personal police to run a terror squad. Heinous crimes like kidnapping, armed robbery, harassment, thuggery, brigandage and intimidation of members of the public by operatives of ISN, became the order of the day in Imo. Oppositions were humiliated. The governor and his boys became outlaws as a serving senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was embarrassed on the road, harassed and his security men beaten up by the governor’s convoy team. Properties of those considered to be critics of Okorocha’s government were seized and some demolished on unsubstantiated accusation of being accessories to crime.
These developments coupled with the already menace of armed robbers and other crimes gave Imo police command higher challenges. The situation made coming to Imo to work unattractive to any police commissioner. Those who were sent, came, saw but could not conquer. Most of them were enmeshed in controversies or aided and abated the Gestapo attitude of the government under Owelle Rochas Okorocha. Having experienced what was obtainable in the past and seen what the situation looks like now, I must say without fear of contradiction that the arrival of Mohammed Katsina to Imo State as police commissioner has brought sanity in the security situation in the state as he came, saw and set to conquer. So far, steps taken indicate that he is ready to make sacrifices to correct and improve on what is on the ground in order to redeem the image of the Nigeria police.
Since the arrival and assumption of office by CP Mohammed Katsina as the Imo State Police Commssioner, the situation has improved tremendously. He quickly identified and reorganized the command putting the right men to work as O/C Operation, 2i/C Operation, DCP and ACPs. The bringing back from Zone 9 Umuahia of former CSP Dibia Polycarp now an Assistant Commissioner of Police, a core operations wizard, a dread to criminals to compliment his team of operations was seen by Imolites as a sound intelligent decision by the then new commissioner. As the record of crime fighting of the AC Dibia when he was in Bayelsa, Minna, as DPO Ohaji and even at zone 9 is in line with the nature of Mohammed Katsina for those who has followed his record as a crime fighter. The commissioner of police Imo State is a terror to criminal and criminalities. A no nonsense police officer who values results above pecuniary gains. To CP Katsina one is his friend when doing the right thing but on the contrary you face a fierce battle with the worst enemy of law breakers.
In a very short time of his tenure as Imo CP, kidnappers, armed robbers and perpetrators of other heinous crimes have been sniffed out of their cocoons. Crimes hitherto unknown to be flourishing in the state like baby factories were cracked and brought to public knowledge. The commissioner of police has refused to be dragged into the vindictive kind of politics being played by some deceptive leaders in Imo. Unlike the past commissioners who allowed themselves to be used as an instrument of the state government to witch hunt critics, opposition and journalist who dare speak out against bad governance, Mohammed Katsina has disappointed all political groups in the state be it the state government or otherwise insisting that his action must be informed by intelligence and guided by the rule of law and the constitution which he swore to defend. There is no doubt that such independent mind that is resolute to do the right thing may attract the fangs of the government against the decent performing No.1 police officer in the state. There have been incidents where the government of His Excellency Owelle Rochas Okorocha had wanted him to compromise against the principle of a decent society under law. He remained unmoved by inducement rather he chose the side of honour and decency. I have always been a critic of the police but with the achievements of CP Katsina a man from far away north who has never looked the other way when Fulani Herdsmen confront local communities in Imo. His response has been timely without bias unlike the situation in the past.
The strategies and leadership by example of CP Katsina has influenced the psyche of men and women of the Nigeria police. The no nonsense approach of the ever ready crime fighter, has challenged the police personnel in Imo to brace up their act of policing the state. The No.1 police officer is a workaholic any day. He is not a coward leader who will ask the boys to go, he motivates them by leading. CP Katsina’s prompt response to distress security calls at any moment at any location is novel in the act of policing in our state. The agile approach to policing has been a worry to some lazy operatives who has to put extra efforts to meet up with the operational demands of the force.
In the area of administration, CP Katsina has brought in discipline and sanity. The era of DPOs or command heads bringing ‘returns’ have become a thing of the past. As head of police in Imo he is interested in result in fighting crimes. The officers of Imo State Command bear witness to the fact that CP Katsina’s administration has been a deviation from the ways of the past. Today officers and men of the police look decent in appearance courtesy of the no nonsense commissioner who has done everything possible to psyche his operatives even providing uniforms and kits free of charge unlike in the past when police personnel buy their kits to show that looking good improves their public image. The intimidation of the rank and files in the force by their superior officers is now a thing of the past as attested by majority of police personnel. Professionalism has been emphasized and discipline has been made the order of the day among men and women of the Nigeria police in Imo.
In core crime fighting, CP Katsina can best be described as Mr Crush. Since becoming commissioner of police in Imo, he has taken the battle to the door post of criminals and beaten them
