Insecurity in Nigeria over the years and the excesses of the Special Anti-robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force and some other Security Agencies like the State Security Service, have seen Nigerians cry and yearn for a more refined way of policing and many have suggested State Police. The argument wether State Police should be allowed or not is currently on the front burner and it will take the Grace of God for Nigeria and Nigerians to escape the dangers that will be inherent in State Policing in Nigeria which will be a more deadly squad than the SARS we cry about today.
In the real sense of it, State Policing would have been the best way to police Nigeria with our current level of insecurity, because it is believed that when locals are allowed to police their area, policing becomes more effective as they have ideas about who lives or lives not within an environment.
The idea of State Policing has already failed in Nigeria before it's commencement. The inhumane activities of some State enforcement agencies such as the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency(LASTMA), Department of Public Transport(DOPT) in Cross River State, The Kano State Hisbah Police and some other States similar organizations has proven deadly than the activities of SARS and SSS and empowering them more, may be, to the point of carrying arms will spell doom for Nigeria and Nigerians and could cost the quick disintegration of Nigeria.
The activities of some State governors who sees such enforcement agencies as an avenue to give work to the boys is not actually helping matters. These agencies are not actually trained in any enforcement skills other than that boys and girls of different backgrounds are recruited, given uniform and sometimes just one week or one month orientation that is not enough, is organized for them and they are sent to the highways and streets to harass, intimidate and in some instances kill Nigerians. No adequate training to inculcate discipline in them. The support they get from their governments have seen them so heart-hardened that sometimes one begins to wonder if they are still humans. While a Nigerian Police officer who is not from a particular State does his work in that State with some level of fear, State enforcement personnel does their own with the mind that nothing happens, after all, they are Indigenes. Recently, investigation have shown that most vigilante groups members in our community have become informants for kidnappers. With these development, most kidnappers can now do what we call, "precision kidnapping".
The killing of a young trader in Calabar the Cross River State capital by the Department of Public Transportation(DOPT) officials in whatever guise this week, and the attempt by anybody to coin excuses why a truck was used to run over that young man, is not only man's inhumanity to man, but gross insanity. Few days to the incident, a young Cross Riverian and Social Critic, Andrea Ekeng Inyang in his post on Facebook had suggested that since DOPT officials are not well trained on the task they are currently doing, the services of Nigerian Police Force should be sort to accompany them. The appointment by governors of either SSA or SA on new media should not just be about appointing brothers and sisters but men and women that have strong presence on social media that has becomed a strong avenue for citizens to make suggestions on how leaders can govern well so as to harness some of this good suggestions for service delivery. If the advise of the young social critic was adhered to, may be, the killing of that young man would have been avoided.
I therefore call on Cross River State government to immediately handover the DOPT officials involved in the killing of that young man to the police for investigation and prosecution. May the Soul of Michael the trader never rest until his killers are brought to justice.
#JusticeForMichael
Ekpenyong Isaiah,
Commander, Infantry Pen Battallion
isacool4good@yahoo.com
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